Unicef Praise for Indonesia on Child Mortality Drop
Jakarta. Indonesia has more than halved its child mortality rate in the past 25 years, but malnutrition remains a major hurdle, a new Unicef report shows.
The report, titled "Promise Renewed: 2015 Progress Report," states that the country's under-5 mortality rate currently stands at 27 deaths per 1,000 live births, compared with 85 deaths per 1,000 live births in 1990.
"This drop has saved more than five million Indonesian children who would have died if the mortality rate had remained at the 1990 levels," said a statement distributed in Jakarta and obtained by the Jakarta Globe on Wednesday.
The report showed that the number of Indonesian children who died before reaching their fifth birthday had fallen to 147,000 deaths in 2015, or nearly 63 percent less than the 1990 number of 395,000.
The report also noted that Indonesia was among 24 out of 81 low and lower-middle income countries that achieved a two-thirds reduction in under-five mortality, which is the target of the fourth objective in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set in 2000.
“Saving the lives of millions of children is one of Indonesia’s great achievements over the past 25 years,” Unicef representative Gunilla Olsson said in the statement.
“This progress is the result of sustained action by the country’s leaders — to make saving children’s lives a policy priority and to scale up coverage of key interventions.”
Unicef said simple, high-impact, cost effective solutions coupled with economic growth likely contributed to the dramatic reduction of under-5 deaths in Indonesia, including expanding coverage of immunization, encouraging breastfeeding and the prompt diagnosis and treatment of common childhood illnesses.
“But approximately 150,000 Indonesian children still die every year before celebrating their fifth birthday. This is unacceptable,” Olsson noted.
“We also observe that much of the progress in reducing child mortality in Indonesia occurred during 1990-2005 while it has slowed considerably in the last decade,” she added.
The numbers in the report also hide significant disparities of the lowering child mortality trend across the diverse archipelago, Olsson pointed out.
“Available data suggests that child mortality in Papua is more than three times that of Jakarta and additional disparities exist across wealth quintiles,” she said.
Malnutrition
Olsson called on the Indonesian government to address some of the more complicated causes of child deaths in order to reduce child mortality post-MDG.
Almost half of under-5 deaths occur in the first month after birth and can be attributed to complications from premature birth, asphyxia and severe infections, Olsson said.
"Curbing this requires a health system that is capable of providing round-the-clock high quality services in all parts of the country,” she said.
Furthermore, Indonesian children go on to face many other challenges before they turn 5. A third of Indonesia’s children are stunted, or suffering from chronic malnutrition, and 52 million Indonesians practice open defecation — contributing to ill health.
“Moving forward, it is vital that child mortality is tracked, monitored and addressed at a sub-national level to improve current discrepancies. There are also opportunities to increase access to evidence-based interventions that can further reduce child mortality. Interventions such as oral rehydration solution and zinc for diarrhoea are underutilized and a number of new efficacious vaccines have not yet been introduced in Indonesia,” Olsson said.
Going forward
Later this month, 193 governments will meet at United Nations headquarters to discuss the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) — a roadmap for human progress over the next 15 years.
One goal will be to bring the rate of under-5 mortality down to 25 deaths (or fewer) per 1,000 live births in every country by 2030.
“Indonesia needs to build on its success and reduce child mortality rates further in the coming years. We remain committed to working together and ensuring that progress occurs in every part of the country. The SDG goal on under-5 mortality can only be considered achieved if it is met in every province and every district across the archipelago,” Olsson said.
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