The number of children who died before their fifth birthday reached an historic low in 2022, dropping to 4.9 million, the latest estimates released Wednesday by the United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME) show.

“While there has been welcome progress, every year, millions of families still suffer the devastating heartbreak of losing a child, often in the very first days after birth,” said World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

“Where a child is born should not dictate whether they live or die. It is critical to improve access to quality health services for every woman and child, including during emergencies and in remote areas,” he said.

The report reveals that more children are surviving today than before, with the global under-5 mortality rate declining by 51% since 2000.

Several low- and lower-middle-income countries have outpaced this decline, showing that progress is possible when resources can be allocated to primary health care, including child health and well-being.

The report cites, for example, findings showing that Cambodia, Malawi, Mongolia and Rwanda have reduced under-5 mortality by over 75% since 2000.

“Behind these numbers lie the stories of midwives and skilled health personnel helping mothers safely deliver their newborns, health workers vaccinating and protecting children against deadly diseases, and community health workers who make home visits to support families to ensure the right health and nutrition support for children,” said Catherine Russell, executive director of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

“Through decades of commitment by individuals, communities and nations to reach children with low-cost, quality and effective health services, we’ve shown that we have the knowledge and tools to save lives,” she added.

Preventable deaths elusive

The findings also show, however, that despite progress, preventable child and youth deaths remain elusive.

In addition to the 4.9 million lives lost before the age of 5 – nearly half of which were newborns – the lives of another 2.1 million children and youth aged 5-24 were also cut short.

Sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia bore the brunt of the death toll.

This tragic loss of life is primarily due to preventable or treatable causes such as preterm birth, complications around the time of birth, pneumonia, diarrhea and malaria, said the report.

It noted that many lives could have been saved with better access to high-quality primary health care.

Such access includes essential, low-cost interventions such as vaccinations, the availability of skilled health personnel at birth, early and continued breastfeeding support and diagnosis and treatment of childhood illnesses.

Improving access to quality health services and saving children’s lives from preventable deaths requires investments in education, jobs and decent working conditions for health workers, including community health workers who deliver primary health care.

As trusted community members, community health workers are essential in reaching children and families in every community with life-saving health services like vaccinations, testing and medicine for deadly yet treatable illnesses and nutrition support.

The report said they should be integrated into primary health care systems, paid fairly, well trained and equipped with the means to provide the highest quality of care.