LLLI Center for Breastfeeding Information

Journal Abstract of the Month for August 2003

"How many child deaths can we prevent this year?"

Authors: Gareth Jones, Richard W Steketee, Robert E Black, Zulfigar A. Bhutta, Saul S Morris, and the Bellagio Child Survival Study Group

Lancet 2003-7-5;362:65-71

The second in a series of five papers examining child survival, this one is focused on child mortality due to preventable causes. The estimate of child mortality is over 10 million each year; 90% of child deaths occur in 42 countries. The interventions for these countries are defined according to the effectiveness of the intervention, Levels 1, 2 or 3. The millennium development goal is to reduce child mortality by 2/3 by the year 2015. Breastfeeding has a prominent place in multiple interventions:

Nutrition interventions, including breastfeeding, complementary feeding, Vitamin A and Zinc supplementation could save about 2.4 million children (25% of total deaths) each year.

Assisting families at the household level, including promotion of breastfeeding, oral rehydration therapy, education on complementary feeding, and insecticide-treated materials could jointly prevent more than 1/3 of all deaths. Oral rehydration and breastfeeding alone could prevent over 10% of all deaths.

Inclusion of birth spacing figures was not included, however would have further increased the number of child deaths that could be prevented.

This paper states that the interventions needed to achieve the goals of reducing child mortality are available, but are not being delivered to the mothers and children who need them. These interventions are feasible for implementation in low-income countries at high levels of population coverage. The main challenge now is to act on what we know and deliver the interventions we have into action to the families who need them.

This article will be categorized with the following keywords: Public Health, Developing Countries, Advantages, Epidemiology, Professional Attitudes, Promotion, UNICEF.