DOHA: Qatar has the second lowest child mortality rate compared to neighbouring countries, says a UN report.
Average mortality rate among children under five in Qatar was 16 for every 1,000 live births in 2013, according to ‘Levels and Trends in Child Mortality’ report for 2014 by four UN agencies.
Male child mortality rate was nine and female child mortality seven.
Bahrain recorded child mortality rate at 12, the UAE (16 — similar as Qatar), Kuwait (19) and Saudi Arabia (31). The report doesn’t specify reasons for high or low mortality rates in each country.
It says the global under-five mortality rate has been falling faster than at any other time in the past two decades. The global annual reduction rate has steadily accelerated from 1990 to 1995 — a three-folds increase from 1.2 percent to 4.0 percent between 2005 and 2013.
About half of under-five deaths occur only in five countries: India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Democratic Republic of the Congo and China.
India (21 percent) and Nigeria (13 percent) account for more than a third of under-five deaths.
In Qatar, neonatal mortality rate before 28 days of age is four and infant mortality rate is seven per 1,000 live births. Earlier reports suggested that 260 child mortality cases were reported in 2011 — 39 percent Qatari and 41 expat children.
Female child mortality rate was 59 percent and 41 percent cases were recorded, according to the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics. The report said disorders related to premature birth and low birth weight are the major causes of child mortality, with 20 percent of the cases. The Peninsula
