Child mortality 'like a lottery'

Economic growth may not bring with it improvements in child mortality rates, a new study from a leading global charity has indicated.

According to Save the Children, ten million children still die every year before their fifth birthday, 99 per cent of whom live in the developing world.

However, a study looking at the economic performance of various countries with high mortality rates revealed that many have been unable to channel wealth into social and health improvements.

Several relatively wealthy countries, including oil-rich Angola and India were found to be wanting when it came to converting income into reduced rates of child mortality.

David Mepham, Save the Children's director of policy, said: "A child's chance of making it to its fifth birthday depends on the country or community it is born into.

"This sounds like a lottery, something beyond human control, but this should not be the case. While poverty and inequality are consistent underlying causes of child deaths, all countries, even the poorest, can cut child mortality if they pursue the right policies and prioritise their poorest families."

Despite its low gross national income, Bangladesh was praised for the reductions it has made to its child mortality rate, as part of the Millennium Development Goal.

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