Highest mortality rate among children in South Asia

Pakistan has the highest mortality rate for children under five in South Asia due to malnutrition and simple infections, UNICEF’s “State of the World’s Children” report issued on Monday revealed.

UNICEF sources in Islamabad told IRIN on Tuesday, conservative estimates show some 700,000 children under the age of five die a year of simple preventive diseases in Pakistan, 250,000 from diarrhoea alone. According to one official: “The first year is the most crucial as that is when most of them are wiped out. “ One quarter of new-born babies in Pakistan are underweight, leaving them too weak to breast feed, resulting in further health problems and malnutrition. Such infants are more susceptible to diarrhoea, and other easily treatable infections. This problem is particularly prevalent in rural areas of Pakistan where many girls have children early on in life. Compounding the problem further are economic constraints in which parents are reluctant to bring their children in for medical attention due to a lack of financial resources.