Graft blamed for high child death numbers
What you need to know:
- Maternal mortality rates in the country stand at 488 out of 100,000 births.
- In the rest of the world, under-five mortality is 33 per 1,000 live births while infant mortality is 26 deaths per 1,000 live births.
Kenya lags behind other countries in reducing child deaths and improve maternal health.
Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohammed said corruption and lack of political will were to blame.
She said that while the country had made progress in providing universal primary education and fighting HIV/Aids, a lot needed to be done to meet targets in health.
“We need transparency in the way we conduct business,” she said during the inaugural ethics roundtable organised by the Institute of Directors of Kenya at the Serena Hotel in Nairobi on Monday.
Save the Children and World Vision recently said they were ready to work with the government to ensure the Millennium Development Goals targets were met.
“About one in 19 children born in Kenya dies before their first birthday, while one in 14 does not survive to the age five from causes that can be prevented,” the Country Director of Save the Children, Duncan Harvey, said.
Maternal mortality rates in the country stand at 488 out of 100,000 births.
In the rest of the world, under-five mortality is 33 per 1,000 live births while infant mortality is 26 deaths per 1,000 live births.
World Vision deputy national director, Pauline Okumu, said during the official countdown of the expiry of the millennium goals that they are about 499 days to go.
The goals were adopted by world’s leaders in 2000 to tame extreme poverty.
