Elimination of preventable child mortality as a global task of the XXI century, including in the context of the COVID‑19 pandemic

Despite a sharp reduction (by almost 60 percent) over the past 30 years in the mortality of children and young people, including those under the age of five, the global burden of this problem, according to the UN, remains enormous. The paper provides information on the analysis of data from foreign scientific literature on the indicators of child mortality and its causes in foreign countries, including in the conditions of the COVID‑19 pandemic. It is during the pandemic that many countries experience interruptions in the provision of maternal and child health services, such as medical examinations, vaccination, prenatal and postpartum care due to lack of resources. Studies show that the overall risk of death from COVID‑19 in children is quite low. The causes of infant mortality are mainly factors associated with neonatal mortality: premature birth, low birth weight, complications during childbirth, neonatal sepsis, as well as infectious diseases, more often pneumonia, diarrhea and malaria, and insufficient vaccination. In order to prevent and reduce global child mortality, strategies are needed to provide adequate medical and social services to the population, as well as poverty eradication programs.
P u r p o s e o f t h e s t u d y : to review foreign scientific literature containing information on the analysis of child mortality rates and its causes in foreign countries, including in the conditions of the COVID‑19 pandemic.
M a t e r i a l s a n d m e t h o d s of research: bibliographic, information and analytical methods and methods of comparative analysis were used.
R e s u l t s . Studies have shown that only 122 countries were able to achieve the target of mortality of children under the age of five, designated in the “Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) ” – 25 or less deaths per 1,000 live births by 2019. The death rate of young children is highest in areas where the poor, ethnic or religious minorities, indigenous peoples and people who are discriminated against live. Studies conducted in 2020 showed that the overall risk of death from COVID‑19 in children is quite low.
The COVID‑19 pandemic has led to serious disruptions in the work of health services, which threaten to negate efforts to eliminate child mortality.
F i n d i n g s . In order to prevent and reduce global child mortality, strategies are needed to provide adequate medical and social services to the population, programs to eradicate poverty, and provide access to obstetric and prenatal services. Many countries are experiencing disruptions in the provision of maternal and child health services, such as medical examinations, vaccination, prenatal and postnatal care due to a lack of resources during the pandemic. Due to failures in the health system during the COVID‑19 pandemic, additional deaths of children are possible as a result of potential disruption of health systems.

Authors: Mingazova E. N. [27] Shigabutdinova T. N. [2] Mingazov R. N. [11] Allenov A. M. [1]

Tags: children13 covid-1927 infant mortality2 preventable mortality1