Perinatal Mortality in Developing Countries

Abstract

Each year, 10.7 million children under the age of five years die — 4 million during the first four weeks of life. Another 3.3 million are stillborn. And these are only the official reports. In the less developed countries, which account for 98 percent of reported neonatal deaths and 97 percent of reported stillbirths, these births and deaths are not always registered. Since 2000, when the United Nations Millennium Declaration was signed, efforts to reduce mortality among children younger than five years of age have been accelerating. It will be difficult to reach the stated goal — cutting the rate . . .