The UN said urgent action was needed after its latest child mortality report revealed 48 million children under the age of 5 will die in the next decade.
The UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation said 122 countries had death rates for children under 5 that were below the Sustainable Development Goal of 25 or fewer for every 1,000 live births last year.
But its report, which was published on Wednesday, revealed more work was needed for the remaining 73 countries.
Of them, 53 must must speed up progress to reach the target by 2030, and more than 60 will need to do so to reach the UN's neo-natal mortality goal on time.
"If all countries reach the SDG child survival targets by 2030, 11 million lives under the age of 5 will be saved, more than half of them in sub-Saharan Africa," it said.
"On current trends, about 48 million children under 5 will die between 2020 and 2030, half of them newborns."
The UN agency was formed in 2004 to share data on child mortality to help improve methods for estimating the number of deaths and report on progress towards the goals.
"Sub-Saharan Africa remains the region with the highest under-5 mortality rate in the world," it said.
"In 2019, the region had an average under-5 mortality rate of 76 deaths for every 1,000 live births. That is equal to one child in 13 dying before reaching age 5."
It says the rate is 20 times higher than that of one in 264 for Australasia and two decades behind the world average, which achieved a one in 13 rate by 1999.
"The persistent and overwhelming burden of deaths among children and youths highlights the urgent need to further accelerate progress in preventing child deaths," the UN agency said.
"Current trends predict that close to 23 million five-to-24-year-olds and 48 million children under 5 years of age will die between 2020 and 2030.
"Almost half of these under-5 deaths will be newborns whose deaths can be prevented by reaching high coverage of quality antenatal care, skilled care at birth, postnatal care for mother and baby, and care of small and sick newborns."
It said most deaths of children younger than 5 were in two regions, with 53 per cent in sub-Saharan Africa and 1.5 million children in Central and Southern Asia.
"These two regions accounted for more than 80 per cent of the 5.2 million global under-5 deaths in 2019, but they only accounted for 52 per cent of the global under-5 population," it said.
"Nearly half of all under-5 deaths in 2019 occurred in just five countries: Nigeria, India, Pakistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Ethiopia.
"Nigeria and India alone account for almost a third.
"Access to lifesaving interventions is critical to ensuring steady mortality declines in low and middle-income countries."
Globally, infectious diseases including pneumonia, diarrhoea and malaria remain a leading cause of under-5 deaths, along with early labour and birth complications.
It said malnourished children, particularly those suffering severe acute malnutrition, are at a higher risk of death from these common childhood illnesses.
"Access to basic lifesaving interventions such as childbirth delivery care, postnatal care, vaccinations, and early childhood preventive and curative services to address these causes is critical," the report said.
The UN agency is led by Unicef and includes the World Health Organisation, the World Bank and the UN Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs as full members.
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The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
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Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
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High profile Al Shabab attacks
- 2010: A restaurant attack in Kampala Uganda kills 74 people watching a Fifa World Cup final football match.
- 2013: The Westgate shopping mall attack, 62 civilians, five Kenyan soldiers and four gunmen are killed.
- 2014: A series of bombings and shootings across Kenya sees scores of civilians killed.
- 2015: Four gunmen attack Garissa University College in northeastern Kenya and take over 700 students hostage, killing those who identified as Christian; 148 die and 79 more are injured.
- 2016: An attack on a Kenyan military base in El Adde Somalia kills 180 soldiers.
- 2017: A suicide truck bombing outside the Safari Hotel in Mogadishu kills 587 people and destroys several city blocks, making it the deadliest attack by the group and the worst in Somalia’s history.
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Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor
Power: 727hp
Torque: 1,000Nm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 10.6L/100km
On sale: Now
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The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
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THE%20SPECS
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Company profile
Name: Back to Games and Boardgame Space
Started: Back to Games (2015); Boardgame Space (Mark Azzam became co-founder in 2017)
Founder: Back to Games (Mr Azzam); Boardgame Space (Mr Azzam and Feras Al Bastaki)
Based: Dubai and Abu Dhabi
Industry: Back to Games (retail); Boardgame Space (wholesale and distribution)
Funding: Back to Games: self-funded by Mr Azzam with Dh1.3 million; Mr Azzam invested Dh250,000 in Boardgame Space
Growth: Back to Games: from 300 products in 2015 to 7,000 in 2019; Boardgame Space: from 34 games in 2017 to 3,500 in 2019
The%20specs
Get inspired
Here are a couple of Valentine’s Day food products that may or may not go the distance (but have got the internet talking anyway).
Sourdough sentiments: Marks & Spencer in the United Kingdom has introduced a slow-baked sourdough loaf dusted with flour to spell out I (heart) you, at £2 (Dh9.5). While it’s not available in the UAE, there’s nothing to stop you taking the idea and creating your own message of love, stencilled on breakfast-inbed toast.
Crisps playing cupid: Crisp company Tyrells has added a spicy addition to its range for Valentine’s Day. The brand describes the new honey and chilli flavour on Twitter as: “A tenderly bracing duo of the tantalising tingle of chilli with sweet and sticky honey. A helping hand to get your heart racing.” Again, not on sale here, but if you’re tempted you could certainly fashion your own flavour mix (spicy Cheetos and caramel popcorn, anyone?).
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Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
Yahya Al Ghassani's bio
Date of birth: April 18, 1998
Playing position: Winger
Clubs: 2015-2017 – Al Ahli Dubai; March-June 2018 – Paris FC; August – Al Wahda
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Transmission: 8-speed auto
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More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
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Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
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Transmission: 10-speed auto
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• Could the UAE drive India's economy?
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• Round up: Experts share their visions of the world to come
