Child Deaths Found at Record Low (1/2)

UNICEF says a record low number of children are dying before the age of five. The United Nations Children's Fund has records back to nineteen sixty. It says the number has dropped below ten million a year for the first time. By comparison, there were almost thirteen million deaths in nineteen ninety.

The newest report says nine million seven hundred thousand children under five died last year. Almost half were in southern Africa. Just over three million were in South Asia. UNICEF Executive Director Ann Veneman called the new findings historic but still unacceptable. She says most of the deaths are preventable.

UNICEF says much of the progress is the result of increased efforts for early health interventions. One example is feeding babies only breast milk for the first six months. Also, vaccinating children against measles has saved many lives. So has the use of vitamin A to strengthen children's immune systems, and chemically treated bed nets to prevent malaria.

Morocco, Vietnam and the Dominican Republic have reduced child deaths by more than one-third since nineteen ninety-nine. Madagascar has cut its rate by forty-one percent; Sao Tome and Principe by nearly half.

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儿童基金会表示5岁以前儿童的死亡数字呈现历史新低的情形。联合国儿童基金从1960年开始便有所记录。基金会说这是首次，一年的儿童死亡数下降到1000万。相比之下，在1990年，几乎有1，300万儿童死亡。

最新的报道称去年有9，700，000名五岁以下儿童死亡。几乎一半儿是非洲儿童。仅有300万多一点儿是南亚儿童。联合国儿童基金会执行主任
Ann Veneman 称这个新发现是历史性的，但仍是不能接受的。她说大多数的死亡是可以避免的。

儿童基金会说，由于对儿童早期健康的干预工作力度加强，因此取得了很大的进步。其中一个例子是，在前6个月只用母奶喂养婴儿。另外,维生素A 的使用增强了孩子们的免疫力，化学处理过的蚊帐预防疟疾,这些都能减少儿童死亡人数。

自1999年起，摩洛哥，越南和多米尼加共和国以使儿童的死亡率减少了三分之一强。马达加斯加死亡率降低了41 ％ ；圣多美和普林西比降低了近一半的比率。