Worldwide, six diseases account for nearly 75% of all deaths of children under five years old. Pneumonia was the most common, causing 19% of all the deaths, followed by diarrhea, pre-term delivery, malaria, blood infections, and hypoxia (lack of oxygen) at birth.
"New estimates show that worldwide more than seven in ten of the 10.6 million annual deaths in children younger than five-years are attributable to six causes, and that four communicable disease categories (pneumonia, diarrhea, malaria, and blood infections) account for more than half of all child deaths," said Robert Black, of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Undernutrition was a contributing factor in over half of all these deaths. Forty two percent of all the deaths occurred in Africa and 29% in Asia.
Reuters.
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