Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A mid-way report from the World Health Organization (WHO) on how well nations are doing in their efforts to meet health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) shows some progress, particularly in reducing childhood mortality by 27 percent since 1990. Some countries are not on track, however, to meet the goal of reducing mortality in children by two-thirds from 1990 figures, and for the goals to improve maternal health and HIV/Aids care, many countries are lagging behind.

The World Health Statistics 2009 is an annual health report by the WHO that looks at 100 statistics provided by the organization’s 193 member countries. This year it provides the first assessment of MDGs progress.

The MDGs were initiated by the United Nations and partner countries to make significant progress in eight key health and development areas by 2015.

Childhood mortality falling more slowly in less developed countries

Some nine million children under the age of five died in 2007, “significantly fewer” than the 12.5 million in 1990, the report notes, but in some African countries and low-income countries in particular progress is too slow for them to be likely to achieve a two-thirds reduction from the 1990 baseline by 2015. “The decline in the death toll of children under five illustrates what can be achieved by strengthening health systems and scaling up interventions, such as insecticide-treated mosquito nets for malaria and oral rehydration therapy for diarrhea, increased access to vaccines and improved water and sanitation in developing countries,” says Dr Ties Boerma, director of WHO’s Department of Health Statistics and Informatics.

Teen pregnancies remain high

The greatest number of infant deaths occur mainly in the same areas where too little progress is being made to improve maternal health, says the WHO. “An estimated 37 percent of deaths among children aged under five occurs in the first month of life, and most of them in the first week of life,” said Dr Boerma. “While the data are patchy and incomplete, it appears that the regions with the least progress are those where levels of maternal mortality are the highest.”

Adolescent pregnancy rates have barely gone down: from 51 births in 2000 to 48 births in 2006 for every 1,000 women aged 15–19 years.

The World Health Statistics 2009, other findings

• Out of every 100 deaths worldwide, 51 are due to noncommunicable conditions; 34 due to communicable, maternal or nutritional conditions; and 14 due to injuries. Changes in population age structures, risk factors and disease patterns are resulting in increases in the proportion of deaths due to noncommunicable diseases such as heart disease, stroke, cancers and road traffic accidents.
• An estimated 1.2 billion people are affected by neglected tropical diseases.
• The availability of essential medicines at public health facilities is often poor and prices remain high, even for generic medicine.
• There are now more than 3 million people in developing countries receiving antiretroviral therapy, which proves that complex treatment for chronic disease is possible in low-income settings.

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