A new report by the United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation shows that Nigeria is among the four countries with an under-five mortality rate exceeding 100 deaths per 1,000 live births.
The report also stated that sub-Saharan Africa was home to the 20 countries with the highest under-five mortality rates globally in 2023, the year under review.
According to the report, 4.8 million children died globally before reaching their fifth birthday, mostly from preventable causes, in 2023.
This includes 2.3 million deaths in the neonatal period (i.e., aged 0–27 days) and 2.5 million deaths among children aged one to 59 months.
There were also 2.1 million deaths among those aged five to 24 years, including 0.9 million deaths among adolescents aged 10 to 19 years.
The report showed that stark disparities in child survival persist across countries and regions.
It said that in 2023, a child born in the country with the highest under-five mortality rate in the world – 115 deaths per 1,000 live births – was 80 times more likely to die before reaching age five than a child born in the country with the lowest under-five mortality rate, 1.4 deaths per 1,000 live births.
The report noted that with persistent inequality in child survival occurring at regional levels, sub-Saharan Africa had the highest regional under-five mortality rate in 2023 (69 deaths per 1,000 live births).
“The under-five mortality rate in this region is 14 times higher than that of Europe and Northern America, and 18 times higher than that of Australia and New Zealand, the regions with the lowest regional under-five mortality rates in 2023.
“Notably, only four countries – Niger, Nigeria, Somalia, and Chad – had an under-five mortality rate exceeding 100 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2023, down from 42 in 2000, but all of them are in sub-Saharan Africa. Moreover, sub-Saharan Africa is also home to the countries with the 20 highest under-five mortality rates globally in 2023, all exceeding 60 deaths per 1,000 live births,” the report highlighted.
Commenting on the report, a Consultant Paediatrician at the Federal Teaching Hospital, Katsina, Katsina State, Dr Abdurrazzaq Alege, said the majority of under-five children lived in northern Nigeria, where insecurity, such as banditry and insurgency, had worsened access to essential services, including food production and healthcare.
He stated that due to insecurity, many people couldn’t farm, leading to food scarcity and malnutrition, which are major causes of death in children under five.
Alege stated that other contributing health issues included pneumonia, malaria, diarrhoeal diseases, poor vaccine acceptance in Nigeria, and low budgetary allocation to healthcare.
The paediatrician suggested eradicating insurgency, improving local vaccine production, enhancing health education, especially for mothers, and making maternal and child health services free to end the scourge.
“Most people are now below the poverty line; most people live on less than a dollar per day, so if the government can improve the economic situation of the country and increase the budgetary allocation to health, it will reduce the rate of deaths among under-five children,” he added.
