6 million children under five died in 2012, UNICEF

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) announced on Friday that approximately 6.6 million children under the age of five died in 2012. A new UNICEF report showed that "if current trends continue, the world will not meet Millennium Development Goal 4," which aims by 2015 to cut by two-thirds the rate of mortality among children under 5 years of age.   "The cost of inaction is alarmingly high: as many as 35 million more children could die mostly from preventable causes between 2015 and 2028, if the global community does not take immediate action to accelerate progress" the report said. Stating that 176 governments had signed a pledge vowing to accelerate progress on child survival, the report said, "Hundreds of civil society, religious groups and private individuals have also pledged support for the shared goal of giving every last child the best possible start in life." The report also showed sharp reductions in preventable child deaths across all regions of the world, and at all levels of national income, including low-income countries. According to UNICEF, some of the world’s poorest countries have made the strongest gains in child survival since 1990. "A few low-income countries with high child mortality rates, such as Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Liberia, Malawi, Nepal and United Republic of Tanzania, have already reduced their under-five death rates by two-thirds or more since 1990, reaching Millennium Development Goal 4 for the reduction of child deaths ahead of the 2015 deadline," UNICEF said.