The mortality rate for children under five has declined faster than previous estimates have shown, according to a new study by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (HME) out of the University of Washington.  Details of the study will be forthcoming in the May 24 issue of The Lancet.

To investigate the progress of the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goal  4 (MDG4) , which calls for a reduction in childhood mortality of 66% by 2015, the researchers of this study developed a more accurate method of generating estimates for under-5s , according to Julie Knoll Rajaratnam, lead author of the study and assistant professor of global health at the University.

The results are, indeed, encouraging.  In 1990 the number of global childhood deaths stood at 11.9 million; by 2010, that number has been reduced substantially down to 7.7 million.

Study researchers from the Universities of Washington and Queensland were able to generate mortality estimates from 187 countries worldwide; 31 of those countries are on track with MDG4.

The impetus of the decline has been better treatment options for malaria, as well as the more successful treatment of newborns born to mothers infected with AIDS

Other significant findings of the study:

·         In 1990, 12 countries had an under-5  mortality rate of 200 per 1,000 live births.  As of 2010, no country has a mortality rate that high

·         Singapore had a mortality rate of 8 deaths per 1,000 live births in 1990; today, that rate has dropped to 2 – the lowest in the entire world. 

·         Only 5 countries (Swaziland, Equitorial Guinea, Antigua, Barbuda, Lesotha) have witnessed an increase in under-5 mortality rates from 1990-2010.

According to Rajaratnum, the study shows that “children today are doing better than at any time in recent history, especially in the first month of life (IHME website).”