What if you only had an 87% chance of reaching your 5th birthday?
By: Anisha Musti
Tags: Developing Countries, Vaccine Distribution, Child Mortality, Children, Breastfeeding

How can we stop child mortality?

The World Economic Forum recognizes the best way to reduce child mortality as taking advantage of two resources:

Improving access to immunization Increasing exclusive breastfeeding rates

These two resources are readily available and, if properly implemented, can save millions of lives annually.

Improving Immunization

For the past few centuries, infectious diseases have been one of the major causes of child deaths, but the success of vaccination and antibiotics has made significant strides in reducing mortality from infectious disease.

Measles vaccination is a perfect example: the number of measles cases has shrunk by 86% since 1990. The WHO has estimated that between 2000 and 2017 measles vaccination has prevented 21.1 million deaths across Africa.

Today we also have vaccines available for tuberculosis, meningitis, hepatitis, and whooping cough–the leading causes of child mortality.

Pros:

👍 Only needed once

👍 Effective 90–99% of the time

👍 Doesn’t require parental cooperation

👍 Healthcare facility is not necessary

Cons:

🚫 Lack of healthcare infrastructure

🚫 Cost

🚫 Inability to reach healthcare centers

🚫 Need to get vaccinated for each illness

Despite the vast benefits of vaccines, only 80% of people have access to them. And most of this is 80% is in the Western world…

T he developing world’s healthcare systems are not built for widespread immunization.

In a conversation I was having with Adetunji Busayo Henry, a local Nigerian child mortality enthusiast, he said plainly:

“There is almost no healthcare infrastructure in rural Nigeria.”

A rural neighborhood in Northern Nigeria with no nearby hospital/health facility

The cost of newer vaccines is between $3.50 USD and $7.50 USD per dose (if procured through UNICEF) and sometimes more.

To put that in perspective, more than 82 million Nigerians (42% of the population) live on less than $1 a day, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

Not only can people not access it, the government can’t store it.

Countries postpone the introduction of these vaccines because they do not have the capacity. Some countries actually delay the time for the vaccines to arrive, even when they have been paid for by others, because they do not have the capacity either at the central level or in the country.

The WHO writes that the most pressing concern is shortages of vaccine supplies to meet demand for children who turn up for vaccination sessions.

Transporting vaccines to remote areas can also be a logistical nightmare. Using bikes in South Sudan, on foot in Nepal, by donkey in Yemen or over water to far flung villages in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

And most of these governments don’t make health a priority. For example, in Pakistan, the government spends less than 1 percent of the GDP on healthcare despite having the highest infant mortality rate in the world.

Increasing Exclusive Breastfeeding

Before we get into why it’s import, let’s define exclusive breastfeeding.

Exclusive breastfeeding is defined as feeding infants only breast milk, be it directly from breast or expressed, for the first six months of their life.

Exclusive breastfeeding provides natural antibodies and immunization against diseases including diarrhea and pneumonia. Best of all, mothers create new antibodies in real time, which help strengthen young immune systems.

It’s a naturally-produced vaccine against respiratory and infectious diseases while providing all the nutrients a child needs to avoid malnutrition.

The WHO recognizes exclusive breastfeeding as one of the essential actions for infant development and survival.

Low exclusive breastfeeding rates are directly correlated with high rates of child mortality.

For example, Somalia has the second-lowest breastfeeding rate in Africa alongside the second-highest child mortality rate.

In many regions, mothers do not have access to birthing centers, hygienic nursing, and trained professionals. Breastfeeding is something almost every woman can do, regardless of their resources.

Pros:

👍 All-in-one immunization

👍 No cost

👍 Almost all mothers can do it

👍 Healthcare facility is not necessary

Cons:

🚫 Mother needs to sustain for 6+ months

🚫 Work environment makes breastfeeding hard

Why aren’t women breastfeeding now?

Only 40% of infants worldwide are breastfed exclusively until they are at least six months old, as the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends.

I said that “almost every woman” can breastfeed. There are some medical instances in which a mother cannot initiate or solely rely on breastfeeding.

Luckily, only 1 to 5 percent of women are physically unable to produce enough milk to feed their babies.

Causes of Low Breastfeeding

The mother received misinformation (or no information) about breast and formula feeding.

The mother did not have access to supportive care.

The mother has postpartum anxiety or depression.

The mother’s work and social environment do not allow for pumping breaks.

Sometimes mothers have exhaustion, depression, or physical weakness following postpartum surgery while others lack the medical or social support to navigate the logistics of breastfeeding.

Mothers often have to feed their children during the workday

ALL of these reasons are not medical. They’re problems with how society and their environments handle breastfeeding.

Breastfeeding works best when mothers have a knowledgeable and nurturing community to help them work through the inevitable questions and problems, as well as a supportive work environment, but many mother don’t have this.