Levels & Trends in Child Mortality – 2011 Report

Only four years remain to achieve Millennium Development Goal 4 (MDG 4), which calls for reducing the under-five mortality rate by two thirds between 1990 and 2015.Child mortality is a key indicator not only of child health and nutrition but also of the implementation of child survival interventions and, more broadly, of social and economic development. As global momentum and investment for accelerating child survival grow, monitoring progress at the global and country levels has become even more critical. The United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (IGME) updates child mortality estimates annually for monitoring progress. This report presents the IGME’s latest estimates of under-five, infant and neonatal mortality and assesses progress towards MDG 4 at the country, regional and global levels. It shows that although significant strides have been made, reaching all the MDGs by 2015 remains challenging because progress has failed to reach the most vulnerable. The report indicates what is required to ensure continued progress