In 2018 an estimated 6.2 million children and adolescents under the age of 15 years died, mostly from preventable causes. Of these deaths, 5.3 million occurred in the first 5 years, with almost half of these in the first month of life. Despite determined global progress, an increas-ing proportion of child deaths are in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia. Four out of every five deaths of children under age five occur in these regions. Children in sub-Saharan Africa are more than 15 times more likely to die before the age of 5 than children in high income countries.
Malnourished children, particularly those with severe acute malnutrition, have a higher risk of death from common childhood illness such as diarrhoea, pneumonia, and malaria. Nutrition-re-lated factors contribute to about 45percent of deaths in children under -5 years of age. Over 40 per cent of all countries have fewer than 10 medical doctors per 10,000 people; over 55 per cent of countries have fewer than 40 nursing and midwifery personnel per 10,000 people.
Every day in 2017, approximately 810 women died from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth.
94 percent of all maternal deaths occur in low and lower middle-income countries. Young adolescents (ages 10-14) face a higher risk of complications and death as a result of pregnancy than other women.
