UNICEF global report finds large drop in Indonesian child deaths – but major challenges remain

By Nick Baker, Communication and Knowledge Management Officer 

Around 4.5 million Indonesian children have been saved since 1990. ©UNICEF Indonesia/2015

A new global UNICEF report has highlighted how Indonesia is making substantial progress in reducing child mortality.

The Promise Renewed: 2015 Progress Report stated that the Indonesian under-five mortality rate currently stands at 27 deaths per 1,000 live births compared against 85 deaths per 1,000 live births in 1990.

In 1990, an estimated 395,000 children died in Indonesia before reaching their fifth birthday. The corresponding number was 147,000 in 2015. “This is still a shocking number, but it also means that an estimated 4.5 million children have been who would have died if the mortality rate had remained at the 1990 level,” UNICEF Indonesia Representative Gunilla Olsson said.

More children than ever before are surviving past their fifth birthday

Saving children’s lives will benefit entire societies 

By Angela Kearney, UNICEF Representative Indonesia

The opportunity to end preventable child deaths has never been greater than it is today.

Thanks to proven solutions and global and national efforts, the lives of 90 million children were saved globally in the past 22 years; children who would otherwise have died if mortality rates had remained at the same levels as in 1990.

Half as many children died in 2012 than in 1990, with the annual number of under-five deaths falling from 12.6 million in 1990 to 6.6 million in 2012.

In Indonesia, we have also witnessed remarkable progress. While in 1990, as many as 385,000 under-five children died, today, the number has fallen to 152,000. As we take a moment to savour this good news, we must also take stock and remember that we are failing the more than 400 children in Indonesia who still die needlessly every day. And we also need to be aware that although the overall reduction in child deaths is impressive, recent data show that this decline has been slowing down over the past 5 to 10 years. If the current trajectory continues, the achievement of Millennium Development Goal 4 of reducing child mortality by two thirds between 1990 and 2015 remains at risk.