Premature birth leading cause of death among children under 5

By Staff Reporter - 17 Nov '14 13:47PM

Babies that are born prematurely has now surpassed individual infectious diseases as the number one cause of death in young children around the world, according to a new study. Premature birth is now the leading cause of death among children under age 5.

A study in the Lancet journal reported over one million deaths per year - mostly in the developing world. The complications of childbirth accounted for another 720,000 deaths a year.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the global mortality rate among children under the age of 5 years has reduced from 76 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2000 to 46 deaths per 1,000 live births last year, representing an annual reduction of 3.9 percent. During the same period, however, mortality rates from preterm births only reduced by 2 percent.

Professor Joy Lawn of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, one of the report authors, said: "The success we've seen in the ongoing fight against infectious diseases demonstrates that we can also be successful if we invest in prevention and care for pre-term birth".

"Globally, this is a wake-up call. This marks a turning of the tide, a transition from infections to neonatal conditions, especially those related to premature births, and this will require entirely different medical and public health approaches ... The success we've seen in the ongoing fight against infectious diseases demonstrates that we can also be successful if we invest in prevention and care for preterm birth," she added.

According to the report, the researchers found that 965,000 deaths in the first 28 days of an infant's life were caused by direct complications from premature birth, and such complications caused 125,000 deaths among children aged between 1 month and 5 years.

India was the country with the highest number of deaths from preterm birth complications, at 361,600, followed by Nigeria, Pakistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, China, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Ethiopia, Angola and Kenya.