UN says 6.6 million children under 5 died last year

Childhood death rates around the world have halved since 1990, but an estimated 6.6 million children under the age of 5 still died last year, the U.N. children's agency said Friday.

Nearly half of all children who die are in five countries: Nigeria, The Congo, India, Pakistan and China, UNICEF reported. The top killers are malaria, pneumonia and diarrhea, taking the lives of about 6,000 children under age 5 daily. A lack of nutrition contributes to almost half of these deaths.

"Progress can and must be made," said Anthony Lake, UNICEF's executive director. "When concerted action, sound strategies, adequate resources and strong political will are harnessed in support of child and maternal survival, dramatic reductions in child mortality aren't just feasible, they are morally imperative."

Eastern and Southern Africa have reduced their death rates for children under 5 by more than 50 percent since 1990. West and Central Africa are the only regions not to have at least halved the number of children under 5 dying over the past 22 years, the U.N. said.

Nigeria bears more than 30 percent of early childhood deaths for malaria and 20 percent of the deaths associated with HIV. Globally, the country accounts for one in every eight child deaths, the U.N. said.

While these numbers are grim, the rate of improvement globally seems to have plateaued at about 4 percent improvement per year since 2005, the report noted. The estimated numbers are based on solid data from about half the world's countries. The researchers used modeling techniques to estimate mortality figures for regions with less solid figures.

Increased community health care, mosquito nets, medicines, rehydration treatments and improved access to safe water were factors that helped improve the early childhood death rates in some countries.

But Lake said a new sense of urgency was needed to improve the figures.

"Yes, we should celebrate the progress," he said. "But how can we celebrate when there is so much more to do?"

Al Jazeera and The Associated Press