Many countries have made great strides in reducing child mortality. Yet, every year millions of children still die before their fifth birthday. View these trends using our GBD Compare data visualization.
By the time a child reaches the age of 5 years, the probability of death decreases dramatically. This age is therefore commonly used as a cutoff point for measuring child health outcomes. In much of IHME’s work, “child health” applies to children from birth to age 5.
Among children under 5, the leading causes of death are pneumonia, diarrhea, measles, malaria, and malnutrition. Many simple and cost-effective prevention and treatment options exist, but these may not be available to the children who need them most. IHME projects such as the Salud Mesoamérica Initiative evaluation strive to understand gaps in intervention coverage and delivery of effective health services.