WHY DIE YOUNG?

by Irenerose Susi


It is very alarming that a child born in a developing country is over 13 times more likely to die within the first five years of life than a child born in an industrialized country. Maternal and neonatal tetanus is a disease that kills tens of thousands of newborns each year. One of the targets of the Millennium Development Goals is to reduce by two thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate.

Millions of children die each year and of these, 37% of under-five deaths occur in the first month of life. What is lamentable is the causes of deaths are preventable, diseases such as pneumonia, diarrhea, malaria and measles. The tragedy can directly be traced to poor prenatal and maternal care. Would-be mothers lack the awareness about risks of pregnancy. Another cause is malnutrition which is traceable to poverty. This leads to mental underdevelopment. Also included among the culprits is the lack of access to quality health care.

To curtail child mortality, everybody must stand up and take action. The government should take the initiative in disseminating information about the quality of pre-natal check-ups. Focus should be made on underlying socio-economic causes on child mortality: reproductive health, education and awareness, and employment.

Another problem to be addressed is how to promote comprehensive coverage of primary health care, and to sustain the delivery of health services from child birth to adolescent age. Special attention should be made on malnutrition. To the poorest of the poor, one meal a day is already a luxury, but the ill-effects may render the child useless.

One solution often neglected is immunization. While the government has laid down its policies on immunization, unfortunately, there is indifference among many of our mothers. This is true because the need for food for the stomach lies on top in the echelon of survival. This long term benefit of immunization, that is, prevention from debilitating diseases is set aside.

It is high time that we focus on this problem. Limiting child mortality to nil should be everybody’s business. Child mortality left unbated will lead to the future’s mortality. And this urgently needed.