Historic Drop In Child Mortality Rates

An article in the International Herald Tribune highlights the falling rate in child mortality discussed in the United Nations Children’s Fund report. According to the report, "for the first time since record keeping began in 1960, the number of deaths of young children around the world has fallen below 10 million a year." Success has come in part from campaigns to fight infectious diseases and to encourage bottle-feeding, as well as from vast monetary contributions from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis & Malaria and the Gates Foundation. UNICEF cites vaccination drives, access to mosquito nets, and supply drops of Vitamin A as important advances to the effort. This new report shows promise in fulfilling the United Nations Millennium Development Goal of significantly reducing child mortality by the year 2015.