UN cites decrease in under-5 mortality, says 7,000 newborns still die every day

Every day in 2016, 15,000 children died before their fifth birthday, according to a new UN report. UNICEF also said that 46 percent of that number - or 7,000 babies - died in the first 28 days of life. The report, Levels and Trends in Child Mortality 2017, said that the number of children dying before the age of five was at a new low - 5.6 million in 2016, compared with nearly 9.9 million in 2000. However, the proportion of under-five deaths in the newborn period has increased from 41 percent to 46 percent during the same period. “The lives of 50 million children under-five have been saved since 2000, a testament to the serious commitment by governments and development partners to tackle preventable child deaths,” according to UNICEF chief of health, Stefan Swartling Peterson.