Millions of Children’s Lives Saved Over the Years Here

The number of children dying under the age of five has significantly declined over the past couple of decades in Southern Asia.

“We have made heartening progress to save millions of children’s lives since 1990. These aren’t just numbers on a page – these are children’s lives saved, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters,” says Sanjay Wijesejera, UNICEF’s Regional Director for Southern Asia. “This success is largely due to investments in trained health workers, improvements in newborn care, treatment of childhood illnesses, and vaccination for children against deadly diseases.”

Southern Asia comprises nine countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Iran, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. In 1990, the number of child deaths under the age of five in this region stood at five million annually. The last two decades show a decline in this number by 72 per cent: by 2022, the number of child deaths under five years old stood at 1.3 million. However, disparity across the Southern Asia area still exists, and urgent action is needed to ensure the child mortality rate continues to decrease.