In the chart presented here we see the major causes of death of children under 5 in 2017 compared to 1990. This type of chart is called a treemap, where the area of each box represents the total number of child deaths for each specific cause. The total colored area represents the total number of child deaths in 1990: 11.8 million children died back then, according to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.1
As the treemap shows, the boxes representing the numbers for child deaths in 2017 are almost always smaller – reflecting the fact that deaths from almost all causes have fallen significantly.2
There are two major exceptions: the number of deaths from AIDS and the deaths caused by invasive non-typhoidal salmonella (iNTS) has increased. Although those numbers were higher in 2017 than 1990, the deaths from both causes have been decreasing since their peak in 2005.
While the total number of child deaths has more than halved from 11.8 million in 1990 to 5.4 million in 2017, the major causes of child deaths have largely remained the same.
15% of all child deaths in 2017 – Pneumonia and other lower respiratory diseases
Almost every seventh child who died in 2017 died of a lower respiratory infection (LRI), which has remained the leading cause of mortality over the past three decades. Pneumonia is the leading LRI. It is caused primarily by bacterial infections.3
12% of deaths – Preterm births and neonatal disorders
When we talk about child mortality we usually refer to mortality of children under the age of 5. But of all children who die, most do not come close to their fifth birthday: the younger a child is, the higher the risk of mortality. Three times as many children die in the first year of their lives than in the next four years. And the majority of children who die in their first year die in the neonatal period, the first 27 days after birth.
Premature birth (being born before the 37th week of gestation) is one of the major determinants of neonatal mortality and therefore complications arising from preterm birth are usually grouped with the neonatal disorders, as we did in our chart.4
Children born prematurely are at high risk of having birth injuries, underdeveloped organs, and contracting infectious diseases.5
10% of deaths – Diarrheal diseases
Every tenth child that died in 2017 died because of some diarrheal disease – rotavirus infection, cholera, shigellosis and other infectious diseases that result in diarrhea. The World Health Organisation (WHO) says that diarrheal diseases are “both treatable and preventable”.6
The fact that diarrheal diseases are the third leading cause of child mortality is simply inexcusable. An increased coverage of oral rehydration therapy – an incredibly simple treatment for diarrhea – could help to prevent many of these deaths.
9% of deaths – Congenital defects
While classed separately from neonatal disorders, congenital birth defects are significant contributors to infant mortality as well.7 Congenital defects are defined as physical or genetic abnormalities present at birth and include neural tube defects, heart defects, Down syndrome, microcephaly and others.
45% of deaths – Infectious diseases
Infectious diseases have always been one of the major causes of child deaths, but the success of vaccination campaigns and antibiotic availability has done a great deal to reduce mortality from infectious diseases. Measles vaccination is a perfect example: the number of measles cases has shrunk by 86% since 1990. The WHO has estimated that between 2000 and 2017 measles vaccination has prevented 21.1 million deaths across Africa.8
Today we also have vaccines available for tuberculosis, meningitis, hepatitis, and whooping cough. The best way to protect children against malaria today is to provide insecticide treated bednets, but a new malaria vaccine implementation program is also underway. 9
Chapter 5 – Reading Quiz #11)Many of the deaths of young children around the world could be prevented by reductions inpoverty.2)Derek, a 4-year-old boy, is curious by nature and exhausts his parents with “why” questions.However, he is not able to comprehend ideas. His imagination does not resemble reality.Whenever he sees a rainbow, he believes that a fairy has painted it with watercolors. In thecontext of cognitive development in early childhood, this scenario illustrates Piaget’sintuitive thought substage.3)Ted is in a Tools of the Mind classroom. His teacher guides him in planning his own messageby drawing a line to stand for each word he says. Ted then repeats the message, pointing toeach line as he says the word. Finally, he writes on the lines, trying to represent each wordwith some letters or symbols. This process is called scaffolding writing.4)Which of the following statements is true of Piaget’s preoperational stage of cognitivedevelopment? In this stage, children begin to represent the world with words, images, anddrawings.5)Irene conducts a laboratory experiment to test the memory of children. She rapidly reads outa list of colors to three children aged 4, 6, and 13 years. The children are then asked to repeatthe names of the colors. Irene notices that the 6-year-old and the 13-year-old are able to recallmore colors than the 4-year-old. This experiment illustrates that memory span varies fromone individual to another.6)Scientists have discovered that there are dramatic changes in local patterns withinthe brainsof children in the 3- to 15-year age range.7)According to Gauvain (2016) and Holzman (2017), Vygotsky’s view of the importance ofsociocultural influenceson children’s development fits with the current belief that it isimportant to evaluate the contextual factors in learning.8)According to Sleet and Mercy, which of the following steps can be taken to enhance
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10) A police officer visits Heather’s class to discuss safety rules. To attract children’s attention,the officer brings colorful balloons and jars of bubbles. Later, Heather tells her parents allabout the balloons and bubbles but cannot remember any of the safety rules the officer talkedabout. Heather obviously paid more attention to what was salient.