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UNICEF / CHILD MORTALITY
STORY: UNICEF / CHILD MORTALITY
TRT: 3:24
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTION: PLEASE CREDIT UNICEF FOOTAGE ON SCREEN / EMBARGOED UNTIL 00:01 GMT 18 SEPTEMBER 2018
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 17 SEPTEMBER 2018, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
17 SEPTEMBER 2018, NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior, UNICEF building
2. Various shots, Hereward at his office
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Hereward, Associate Director, Data and Analytics, Division of Data Research and Policy, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF):
“Under the age of five, of course disease plays a much bigger role and before the rates really reduce, the easiest and the most direct intervention is immunization and that reduces the number of death. And then when you achieve that, then the main cause of death is pneumonia and diarrhea, both of which are reasonably easily treatable, but you need more of a health system and community of health workers to be able to address those.”
4. Various shots, reports
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Hereward, Associate Director, Data and Analytics, Division of Data Research and Policy, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF):
“There are two things going on here. One is that educated women tend to be in families that are better off, but also more importantly they are more able to spot the signs of danger to that child, and to maybe to insist a little bit, like ‘I really need this kind of care.’ So it isn’t just the women’s education which is important to its own rights, but this particular kinds of self-help information that we need to get to everybody regardless of how much school they had, so they are equipped to look after themselves and their babies during that really important time around child birth.”
FILE – UNICEF - 14 OCTOBER 2017, INDIA
6. Various shots, woman giving birth
17 SEPTEMBER 2018, NEW YORK CITY
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Hereward, Associate Director, Data and Analytics, Division of Data Research and Policy, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF):
“I mean it is a massive population there. So of course a large number of death will occur, just because proportionally there is a large number of children and a large number of women who become pregnant. But there are also challenges particular in South Asia from the neonatal mortality, those in the first weeks and month of life and that is the challenge of setting up those system to be able to look after women as they are giving birth and the children soon after they are born.”
FILE – UNICEF - 14 OCTOBER 2017, INDIA
8. Various shots, babies in hospital care
17 SEPTEMBER 2018, NEW YORK CITY
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Hereward, Associate Director, Data and Analytics, Division of Data Research and Policy, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF):
“When you have very few resources, you have to make sure that every penny counts, that every penny gets all the way down to the village, to the village volunteers, to the workers who really need it. So working with the countries to make sure that the system is reliable and efficient and effective is really our role as international community.”
FILE – UNICEF - 14 OCTOBER 2017, INDIA
10. Various shots, woman giving birth
An estimated 6.3 million children under 15 years of age died in 2017, or 1 every 5 seconds, mostly of preventable causes, according to new mortality estimates released by UNICEF, the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Population Division and the World Bank Group.
According to the report, the vast majority of these deaths – 5.4 million – occur in the first five years of life, with newborns accounting for around half of the deaths.
SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Hereward, Associate Director, Data and Analytics, Division of Data Research and Policy, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF):
“Under the age of five, of course disease plays a much bigger role and before the rates really reduce, the easiest and the most direct intervention is immunization and that reduces the number of death. And then when you achieve that, then the main cause of death is pneumonia and diarrhea, both of which are reasonably easily treatable, but you need more of a health system and community of health workers to be able to address those.”
By comparison, among children between 5 and 14 years of age, injuries become a more prominent cause of death, especially from drowning and road traffic. Within this age group, regional differences also exist, with the risk of dying for a child from sub-Saharan Africa 15 times higher than in Europe.
Globally, in 2017, half of all deaths under five years of age took place in sub-Saharan Africa, and another 30 per cent in Southern Asia. In sub-Saharan Africa, 1 in 13 children died before their fifth birthday. In high-income countries, that number was 1 in 185.
SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Hereward, Associate Director, Data and Analytics, Division of Data Research and Policy, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF):
“I mean it is a massive population there. So of course a large number of death will occur, just because proportionally there is a large number of children and a large number of women who become pregnant. But there are also challenges particular in South Asia from the neonatal mortality, those in the first weeks and month of life and that is the challenge of setting up those system to be able to look after women as they are giving birth and the children soon after they are born.”
For children everywhere, the most risky period of life is the first month. In 2017, 2.5 million newborns died in their first month. A baby born in sub-Saharan Africa or in Southern Asia was nine times more likely to die in the first month than a baby born in a high-income country. And progress towards saving newborns has been slower than for other children under five years of age since 1990.
Even within countries, disparities persist. Under-five mortality rates among children in rural areas are, on average, 50 per cent higher than among children in urban areas. In addition, those born to uneducated mothers are more than twice as likely to die before turning five than those born to mothers with a secondary or higher education.
SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Hereward, Associate Director, Data and Analytics, Division of Data Research and Policy, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF):
“There are two things going on here. One is that educated women tend to be in families that are better off, but also more importantly they are more able to spot the signs of danger to that child, and to maybe to insist a little bit, like ‘I really need this kind of care.’ So it isn’t just the women’s education which is important to its own rights, but this particular kinds of self-help information that we need to get to everybody regardless of how much school they had, so they are equipped to look after themselves and their babies during that really important time around child birth.”
Despite these challenges, fewer children are dying each year worldwide. The number of children dying under five has fallen dramatically from 12.6 million in 1990 to 5.4 million in 2017. The number of deaths in older children aged between 5 to 14 years dropped from 1.7 million to under a million in the same period.
SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Hereward, Associate Director, Data and Analytics, Division of Data Research and Policy, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF):
“When you have very few resources, you have to make sure that every penny counts, that every penny gets all the way down to the village, to the village volunteers, to the workers who really need it. So working with the countries to make sure that the system is reliable and efficient and effective is really our role as international community.”
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