Global perspective Human stories

UN Children’s Fund reports ‘child survival crisis’ in Caucasus, Central Asia

UN Children’s Fund reports ‘child survival crisis’ in Caucasus, Central Asia

media:entermedia_image:75b3d909-d339-40e7-875d-838e738f80c1
Reporting a “child survival crisis” in the Caucasus and Central Asia, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said today infant mortality rates in nine countries were up to four times higher than official figures long claimed, and 12 times those of western industrialized countries, with most deaths being preventable.

Reporting a “child survival crisis” in the Caucasus and Central Asia, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said today infant mortality rates in nine countries were up to four times higher than official figures long claimed, and 12 times those of western industrialized countries, with most deaths being preventable.

“Misunderstanding the scope of what’s happening prevents effective action to fix it, so getting the numbers right is a major issue. It’s a crucial first step to saving young lives,” Executive Director Carol Bellamy said of the new report, UNICEF’s “Social Monitor 2003” produced by the agency’s Innocenti Research Centre in Florence, Italy.

“Our research shows that infant mortality is a far greater problem in these countries than suggested in the official data. We have looked beyond the official statistics and talked to mothers in their own homes. And their stories reveal a child survival crisis,” she added.

The report focuses on eight countries of the Caucasus and Central Asia – Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan – plus Romania and Ukraine. It compares official rates against data gathered in face-to-face interviews with women.

In all eight Caucasus and Central Asian countries, the estimated rate from the surveys is far higher than the official one – in Azerbaijan, for example, four times greater, with 74 infant deaths for every 1,000 live births compared to an official rate of 17 per 1,000. Romania also appears affected by under-reporting, but on a smaller scale.

The rate in the Caucasus and Central Asia is five times greater than in the rest of Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States.

A mix of factors such as poverty, poor maternal health and nutrition, infection and poor medical care are to blame for most of the deaths. “What we have is two distinct problems,” Ms. Bellamy said. “We have tens of thousands of infant deaths that should be prevented. And we have a systemic failure to properly count the lives being lost.”

Examining the reasons for the gap, the Social Monitor highlights failure to define “live birth” according to international standards, misreporting deaths at the local level and barriers to birth registration. A death may go unrecorded because officially the baby was never “alive.” According to the UN World Health Organization (WHO) definition an infant is alive at birth if breathing or showing any other signs of life, such as muscle movement or heartbeat but under Soviet-era definition breathing is the only criterion.

The report calls for adoption of the WHO definition, improved training of medical staff and incentives for parents to promptly register the births of their children.

The Social Monitor is an annual regional report examining the well being of children in the transition countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States.