About 7.6 million children under age five die each year of preventable causers; 3 million — 40 percent — are newborns (under 28 days old). Ninety-nine percent of these occur in developing countries; three-quarters are mainly due to preventable causes such as neonatal conditions, pneumonia, diarrhea, malaria, and measles. Many of these under-five deaths could be averted by known, affordable, low-technology interventions.
Any preventable child death is one too many.
Here are 10 important interventions for child survival --- a list that is by no means exhaustive:
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Exclusive breastfeeding
Could keep 1.3 million infants from dying (including by preventing pneumonia)
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Long-lasting, insecticide-treated bednets
Would save more than 500,000 children by preventing malaria
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Vaccines, such as PCV, Hib, and rotavirus
Would help prevent common childhood illnesses, such as measles, and save children’s lives
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Micronutrient supplements, such as vitamin A and zinc
Would fight malnutrition. (While not a direct cause of death, malnutrition contributes indirectly to more than one-third of these deaths.)