child mortality drop 'too slow' 世界儿童死亡率下降“过于缓慢-凯发k8官网

the un children's agency says child mortality is decreasing, but the rate of decline is not enough.

联合儿童署称儿童死亡率在下降，但是下降率仍不够。

a new report says more than eight million children under five died last year with ²（肺炎） and diarrhoea（腹泻） the two leading causes of death.

unicef says 40% of under-five deaths take place in just three countries - nigeria, india and dr congo.

the report singled out malawi and eritrea as success stories, but said in south africa child mortality had risen.

unicef says the world is failing to reach the un's target of a two-thirds reduction in under-five child mortality between 1990 and 2015.

in 1990, 12.5 million children under the age of five died.

"compared to 1990, 10,000 fewer children are dying every day," said unicef executive director ann veneman in a statement.

"while progress is being made, it is unacceptable that each year 8.8 million children die before their fifth birthday."

'improvement possible'

unicef says the tools are there to significantly reduce child mortality.

they include bed nets to stop ³（疟疾）, improved water and ⁴（环境卫生） and increased ⁵ programmes.

those countries that use these tools - even some of the poorest nations - have seen big improvements in child survival rates, unicef says.

but in some countries progress is at best slow and at worst non-existent.

in south africa, under-five mortality has actually increased since 1990.

the reason, unicef says, is the high rate of hiv and aids among mothers.