Context

Although almost 10 million children under 5 years still die every year in the world, enormous strides have been made since 1970, when over 17 million child deaths occurred. Seven out of 10 deaths in children under the age of 5 years occur in low-income countries - most of them in Africa - and can be attributed to six major causes: pneumonia, diarrhoea, malaria, neonatal infections, preterm delivery and asphyxia at birth. Undernutrition is an underlying cause in an estimated 30% of all deaths among children under 5.