UK slumps in child survival league
Monday May 24th, 2010
Britain has the worst child death rate in western Europe, according to shock figures published last night.
The UK has slumped in a world league table of child survival - despite some improvements in the health of children, according to an analysis in The Lancet.
Researchers said the world is making better progress at saving the lives of infants than has been realised - but Britain and the USA are lagging behind other wealthy countries.
The experts from the University of Washington, Seattle, USA, say that some 7.7 million infants will die under the age of five this year. This is 800,000 less than the last prediction, two years ago.
As many as half the deaths will occur in sub-Saharan African and a third in south Asia.
Death rates have fallen by 75 per cent in the UK since 1970 - but have fallen much more dramatically in the rest of western Europe. In 1970 Britain had the 12th best child survival rate in the world - it now stands at 33 in the global league table.
The researchers led by Dr Christopher Murray write: "Rapidly reducing child deaths must remain a global health priority. This reduction will be aided by regular, careful, and rigorous assessments with new and comparable methods that inspire confidence in the level, and more importantly, the rate of decline of child mortality worldwide."
* The world needs "circular migration" of health workers to boost skills, according to a global code of practice agreed yesterday.
The
code was adopted at the World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland,
yesterday.
It is the latest attempt to discourage wealthy countries from filling shortages in their hospitals by recruiting from developing countries.
Instead it calls for "ethical" recruitment and advocates "circular migration" - allowing staff to work in different countries to improve skills and knowledge.
The Assembly also called for the world to meet specific targets on measles prevention by 2015 as part of the aim of eradicating the disease.
Closing the Assembly, World Health Organisation director general Dr Margaret Chan said: "Thanks to some all-night efforts, we now have a code of practice on the international recruitment of health personnel."
The Lancet on-line May 23 2010
Tags: Child Health | North America | Nursing & Midwifery | UK News | World Health
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