Kathmandu, October 17
An international study has found that the ratio of children dying before the age of five in Nepal varies as per their location.
The ‘Global Burden of Disease study’ finds that the mortality rate in Karnali in 2017 was 57.2 (per thousand) and it is nearly three times the mortality rate of Bagmati region, which includes developed districts including Kathmandu. According to the study, Bagmati’s mortality rate was 21.3.
The study, on the other hand, also recorded significant progress in reducing child mortality in Nepal in the past two decades. A total of 18,698 children died before their fifth birthdays in 2017. The figure was 58,633 in 2000.
“Neonatal disorders were the biggest cause of deaths before age 5 in both 2000 and 2017,” the press release issued by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington’s School of Medicine, which conducted the study reads, “But the total number of deaths from these disorders more than halved during the study period.”
The study is the first of its kind, mapping child deaths in 99 low- and middle-income countries at the level of individual districts, claims the institute. The report was published on Wednesday.
