Research Paper on Child Mortality: A Global Crisis Affecting 6 Million Children

Introduction

Child mortality rate today has become a global issue, despite the significant strategies that have been put in place to control mortality rates in children, the fact remains that children die of diseases and other causes such as lifestyle issues. World Health Organization reports that over 6 million children died, and 75% of the deaths occur in the first five years of a child's life; it surprising that most of them die before the first month (Kirk et al. 2015). I find this problem interesting to address as most of the incidences of children's deaths are caused by preventable diseases such as birth asphyxia, pneumonia, diarrhea, congenital anomalies, and malaria. It is, therefore, a point of concern that all children should be provided with better health care facilities to reduce the mortality rate. Most of the developing countries experience high rates of childhood mortality, and this is a result of limited resources allocation. Countries that have, moved forward to allocating more funds to support children's health have shown a dramatic decrease in childhood mortality rates. This implies that the amount of resources allocated for children is vital to consider, countries across the globe should divert more resources to support children who are at risk. Lack of sufficient resources is significantly associated with the inability to establish and implement preventive measures against children's mortality rates.

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Background

Most of the countries have made remarkable progress in controlling children's mortality; however, there is more to consider as the main factor that I found most influential on child mortality rates across the globe is the allocation of resources. The government and health organizations have a significant role in controlling the resources meant to support expectant mothers to avoid delivery problems and children after birth. As a result of an increase in the number of resources channeled to support children's health in the world, the chances of children's survival have risen since 1990 (Akinlo & Sulola, 2019).

In 2018, 1 in 26 infants died before the age of five, while in 1990, more than one child in 11 died of disease and, as a result, inadequate facilities, access to quality healthcare (Varma et al. 2019). The progress to eliminating children mortality began to accelerate from 2000-2008 as compared to the 1990s, the annual reduction rates of children's' mortality significantly increased for the under-five children mortality from 2% to in 1990 to 3.8% in 2018 (Varma et 2019).

The main problem facing children's development in the world is their mortality rate; it is, however, essential to consider that the amount of resources allocated for children development-related programs is essential. This article, therefore, attempts to address the issue of children's mortality rate based on the resources channeled to support children.

Resources have become a challenge in most of the countries, from the above statics, the rate of childhood mortality was high in the 1990s, but as a result of the increased amount of resources and support from the different organization to address the issues of childhood mortality, the rate of mortality has reduced (Kuruvilla et 2016). This implies that the amount of resources significantly influences the rate of children's mortality rate. It has, however, been a challenge in most countries, especially third world countries, to control children's mortality rates because of the scarcity of the resource (Akinlo & Sulola, 2019). To tackle the leading causes of death in children, it requires many resources; this includes resources for establishing healthcare felicities, medical doctors, and creating awareness about some of the diseases that are critical to a child's development.

Thesis Statement

The main aim of the study is to address the relationship between resource allocation and child mortality rate. The amount of resources available determines the ability of a country to handle healthcare issues facing children at an early age. In order to achieve the objectives of the study and to help the audience understand the importance of allocating more resource to reduce childhood mortality rates, the following hypothesis was considered:

• Children mortality rates depend on the number of resources allocated for healthcare programs
• Most of the developing countries experience scarcity of resources to handle children mortality crisis
• Resource allocation increases chances of survival rates of under-five
• Involvement of health organizations such as world health organization has reduced the children mortality rates

Evidence

Reducing infant mortality rate is one of the primary responsibilities of the government through the establishment of healthcare facilities, and programs like immunization therapies and creating awareness to people concerning critical infant-related infections play an important role. The gap that exists between children's mortality rates of developed and developing countries is because of resource allocation. Maternal and child health programs have greatly influenced the rates of childhood mortality in many countries (Varma et al. 2019).

The leading causes of child mortality rates in African region which accounts for the 64% of infant mortality rate globally are malaria (15%), premature birth (12%), respiratory infections (16%), diarrhea (10%) and intrapartum complications (11%) (Varma et 2019). The reason behind this phenomenon in the African region is because of the scarcity of resources. It, however, evident that the allocation of more resources to help in dealing with this phenomenon helps to reduce the rates of mortality. For instance, most of the countries have utilized more resources to help in vaccination programs. Vaccines have been made available and free to access in most of the countries. This move has much helped in reducing the rate of childhood mortality (Akinlo & Sulola, 2019).

Burnett et al. 2017 confirm the positive impacts of vaccines in reducing children's mortality rates. The authors identified the relevance of the use of resources to establish vaccine programs for diseases such as measles and polio. The two are known as the leading cause of death in children across the globe. They affirm that the distribution of vaccines across the world and increases in the number of resources in terms of health facilities and personnel have greatly influenced a decrease in mortality rates of children.

The global response has also helped to reduce the children's mortality rate; the establishment of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)by the United Nations to mitigate children's mortality rates has shown a significant influence (Kirk et 2015). SDGs was developed to ensure the proper distribution of funds and address healthcare issues facing newborns across the globe. The program aimed to reduce the number of infant deaths by 12% in 1000 lives of the newborn and also to control under-five mortality rates t at least 25% in 1000 live birth per country (Liu et al. 2015). As a result of the strategy, most of the countries have adopted health policies and allocated resources to support child health care which in turn has dramatically reduced childhood mortality rates through strategies such as increased access to healthcare facilities, quality health, coverage and creating awareness of the dangers of diseases such as Malaria.

Child mortality is a critical health issue that all countries must address, despite resource scarcity, it is crucial to consider this problem as one of the top priority projects in government expenditures. Based on the resource allocation strategies that developed countries have established and implemented to control infant mortality, the impacts have significantly reduced the mortality rate by significant figures.

Counter-Argument

The fact that resource allocation positively influences the reduction in children's mortality rate. Every country can control children's mortality rate, with the support of global organizations and preventive measures that have put in place will help to reduce the rates of mortality. I, therefore, disagree that there are inadequate resources to control child mortality rate while most of the countries prioritize issues and spend more resources that they allocate for child mortality control measures. Resources allocation may be a challenge to most of the countries, especially in sub-Saharan states in Africa. However, it is crucial to consider maternity and child health as a top priority. Akinlo & Sulola, 2019 confirm that health expenditure influences the quality of healthcare in sub-Saharan countries; the authors suggest that government expenditure on health has a positive impact on the child mortality rate.

Conclusion

In conclusion, child mortality is one of the public health problems facing most of the countries across the globe. Allocation resources, however, are one of the essential factors in controlling child mortality. The healthcare and the government need to consider allocating more funds to support mortality programs and child's health to reduce the rate of mortality. The major causes of high mortality rates are preventable diseases and lifestyle issues that have to be addressed. It is, therefore, essential to consider that the only way to achieve the best in reducing child mortality rates is through the allocation of sufficient resources.

The evidence shows that the use of vaccination and other strategies such as improving healthcare facilities and creating awareness on critical diseases such as malaria, polio, and measles has dramatically helped to reduce mortality rates in children. Developed countries have set a good example by establishing resourceful facilities and programs to mitigate mortality rate, from this move other countries have managed to adopt some of the strategies to lower the rate of mortality in children.

References

Akinlo, A. E., & Sulola, A. O. (2019). Health care expenditure and infant mortality in sub-Saharan Africa. Journal of Policy Modeling, 41(1), 168-178.

Burnett, E., Jonesteller, C. L., Tate, J. E., Yen, C., & Parashar, U. D. (2017). Global impact of rotavirus vaccination on childhood hospitalizations and mortality from diarrhea. The Journal of infectious diseases, 215(11), 1666-1672.

Kirk, M. D., Pires, S. M., Black, R. E., Caipo, M., Crump, J. A., Devleesschauwer, B., ... & Hall, A. J. (2015). World Health Organization estimates of the global and regional disease burden of 22 foodborne bacterial, protozoal, and viral diseases, 2010: a data synthesis. PLoS medicine, 12(12).

Kuruvilla, S., Bustreo, F., Kuo, T., Mishra, C. K., Taylor, K., Fogstad, H., ... & Rasanathan, K. (2016). The Global strategy for women's, children's and adolescents' health (2016-2030): a roadmap based on evidence and country experience. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 94(5), 398.

Liu, L., Oza, S., Hogan, D., Perin, J., Rudan, I., Lawn, J. E., ... & Black, R. E. (2015). Global, regional, and national causes of child mortality in 2000-13, with projections to inform post-2015 priorities: an updated systematic analysis. The Lancet, 385(9966), 430-440.

Varma, A., Jensen, A. K. G., Thysen, S. M., Pedersen, L. M., Aaby, P., & Fisker, A. B. (2019). Effect of a CAMPaign with Oral Polio Vaccination (RECAMP-OPV) on mortality and morbidity among children in rural Guinea-Bissau.