The UN report highlights stark regional disparities, with Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia bearing the highest rates of child death. Newborns account for nearly half of all under-five deaths, and the most common causes include premature birth, pneumonia, and birth trauma. Infectious diseases also remain major killers, with malaria causing 17% of deaths in children over one month.
Malnutrition is a critical factor: 100,000 children died directly from severe acute malnutrition, with the highest numbers in Pakistan, Somalia, and Sudan. Aid cuts are threatening to close lifesaving facilities, according to humanitarian workers. Global Health Cluster monitoring shows that 6,600 health facilities were affected by aid cuts last year, with a third forced to close.
In the United States, a separate study from the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia found that child deaths fell at an 8% lower rate than deaths in 13 other rich countries over the last 50 years. There have been 800,000 U.S. child deaths from preventable causes during that time, an increase of 200,000 over a previous study from 2018. Gun violence and self-harm are partly behind the U.S. child mortality disadvantage, according to the study. Teenage boys aged 15-19 account for nearly a third of preventable child deaths in the U.S.
Sandy Hook Promise reports that there are 12 child deaths each day from shootings in the U.S. The number of school shootings has increased twelvefold since 1969, according to an American College of Surgeons report, which also found that it is now four times more likely that children will be school shooting victims. Pediatric suicide cases in emergency rooms increased by 168% between 2016 and 2021, according to the Children's Hospital Association.