UNITED NATIONS
United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) warns millions of avoidable children deaths could occur by 2030 unless the world takes action, on its "Progress for Children" report published Tuesday.
The report says data show significant progress in areas such as child survival, nutrition, mother-to-child transmission of HIV and primary school enrolment, among others.
But it’s only part of the story, it says, warning that 68 million children under the age of five will die from avoidable causes by 2030 unless preventative measures are taken.
If not, 119 million children will also suffer from chronic poor nutrition in 2030, the agency predicts.
The report says that since 1990, the mortality rate among children under five has been reduced more than 50 percent, and poor nutrition by over 40 percent.
Meanwhile, maternal mortalities have dropped over 45 percent and 2.6 billion people have access to drinking water.
However, it says these improvements are insufficient and the world has to focus on the disadvantaged communities as part of a 15-year development roadmap.
Additionally it says it will approximately take 100 years for all girls from sub-Saharan Africa’s poorest families to go to secondary school.
Looking at the present, the report states that 6 million children under five are still passing away, 289,000 women die in childbirth and 58 million children cannot receive primary school education.
