Facts and Statistics
Facts
- Among the five leading causes of avoidable death for children under five are acute respiratory infection, diarrhea, measles, malaria, and malnutrition.
- The use of an integrated approach to child care for developing countries began in the late 1990s. Since then, 20 countries in the Americas have put national policies in place regarding primary care practices, and thousands of health care workers have been trained.
- One of the key challenges to decreasing child mortality rates is providing access to treatment. Some communities do not have health care workers, but there are still treatments that can be provided using local volunteers including mothers, mayors, teachers, church leaders, and others.
-
Vaccination Week in the Americas is an annual event involving all the countries of this hemisphere. During the April 2005 event, nearly 38 million children and adults, including 14.2 million children under the age of five, were vaccinated. Each year, participating countries identify a percentage of children under the age of five who have never been vaccinated, proving the importance of holding the event on an annual basis. Millions of vaccinations are therefore needed each year to support these campaigns.
- The rates of infection in resource-poor countries among vulnerable populations, such as premature babies or the elderly, tend to be twice as high as in developed countries.
- Approximately 90 percent of hospitals in Latin America lack the personnel and/or established structures to prevent and control health-setting acquired infections. Infection control is often not part of the curriculum in medical and nursing schools.
Statistics
| 330,000 |
The number of children under five who die each year in the Americas
(Source: PAHO) |
| 10 million |
The number of children under five who die worldwide each year from a variety of causes
(Source: WHO) |
| $20 |
The global average cost to fully immunize one child against the basic six antigens (measles, mumps, rubella, tetanus, diphtheria and haemophilus influenza)
(Source: Vaccines: Preventing Disease, Protecting Health , PAHO, 2004) |
| 3.75 points |
Average IQ loss in children infected by worms |
| 40% |
Percentage of all child deaths worldwide that occur in the first month of life. Although 99 percent of newborn deaths are in poor countries, the vast majority of funding and research worldwide focuses on high-technology solutions for the one percent of deaths in rich countries.
(Source: The Lancet ) |
Links
Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)
Suggested topic: Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI)
http://www.paho.org
Rx for Child Survival
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/rxforsurvival/campaign/index.html
United Nations
For more information on the Millennium Development Goals
http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/
World Health Organization (WHO)
http://www.who.int
WHO Photo/Video Essay on the Early Days of Six Babies
Click on "Great Expectations"
http://www.who.int/features
