UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 10 (UPI) -- Health programs helped to lower number of children dying before age 5, the U.N. Children's Fund in New York said Thursday.
Data compiled by UNICEF, the World Health Organization, the World Bank and the U.N. Population Division indicated a 28 percent decline in the under-5 mortality rate, from 90 deaths per 1,000 live births in 1990 to 65 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2008, the United Nations said in a release.
Compared to 1990, about 10,000 fewer children in 2009 were dying each day, UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman said.
"While progress is being made, it is unacceptable that each year 8.8 million children die before their fifth birthday," she said.
Public health experts attribute the steady decline to greater use of health intervention measures such as immunization programs, use of insecticide-treated bed nets to prevent malaria and administering vitamin A supplements.
UNICEF officials said progress was recorded globally, even in some of the world's least-developed countries such as Malawi, one of 10 countries with high under-5 mortality.
