POOR HEALTH care has been blamed for the high mortality rate of Jamaican children under age five, according to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).
According to UNICEF, Jamaica's under-five mortality rate is "disturbingly stubborn".
UNICEF noted that for more than a decade, child mortality has reduced only marginally, from 33 deaths per 1,000 live births in 1990 to 31 per 1,000 in 2005.
"The child mortality rate is a telltale sign of a country's values and priorities," said UNICEF Jamaica representative Bertrand Bainvel.
"If Jamaica is serious about its development, it has to promote investment in children, right from birth, and sustain it during the entire period of childhood," he said.
According to UNICEF, keeping more Jamaican children alive requires major strides in providing quality health care which is accessible to all children.
"Every barrier that prevents a sick child from being treated must be removed, a goal that has become more achievable with the recent abolishment of health fees in public health facilities for children under 18," read a release from UNICEF yesterday.
Improve quality of emergency care
UNICEF said access to life-saving treatment of pneumonia and HIV needed to be increased, and more attention paid to improving the quality of emergency obstetric care and the nutrition of young children, particularly by ensuring more children are exclusively breastfed up to six months.
"Beyond tackling the diseases that cause childhood death, Jamaica also needs to create a culture in which parents, families, the wider society and the Government begin to invest in the health and welfare of children from birth," the release read.
According to the 2005 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS), only 15 per cent of children under six months old are exclusively breastfed, denying thousands of children the vital nutritional benefits of breast milk.
Boys, the survey said, are at a distinct disadvantage as they are half as likely as girls to be breastfed exclusively, roughly 10 and 20 per cent respectively.
- P.F.
