 | (By UN Millennium Campaign YouTube) - This video shows the importance of combating and reducing by two thirds the mortality rate for children under five years of age by 2015. With only five years left until the 2015 deadline to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called on world leaders to attend a summit in New York in September 2010 to boost progress towards the realization of the MDGs. Deaths in children under five have declined steadily worldwide. In 2007, the global under-five mortality rate was 67 deaths per 1000 live births, down from 93 in 1990. That year, more than 12.6 million young children died from largely preventable or treatable causes; the figure has declined to around 9 million today, despite population growth. For the developing regions as a whole, the under-five mortality rate dropped from 103 in 1990 to 74 in 2007. Still, many countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia, have made little or no progress at all. The levels are highest in sub-Saharan Africa, where, in 2007, close to one in seven children died before his or her fifth birthday. Together with high levels of fertility, this has resulted in an increase in the absolute number of under-five deaths ?from 4.2 million in 1990 to 4.6 million in 2007. Sub-Saharan Africa now accounts for half of all deaths among children under five. Sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia remain overriding priorities, and intensified efforts hold ... |