πΆ
Child Mortality
Roughly 5 million children under five die each year β most from preventable causes
β Improving
π©Ί Health
π§ Understand
The trend
Under-five deaths fell from ~12.5 million a year in 1990 to ~5 million today. Every year the world sets a new record low β and every year millions of deaths remain preventable.
The scale
On the order of 13,000 children under five die every day, overwhelmingly in low-income countries. The leading killers β pneumonia, diarrhea, malaria, newborn complications β are all treatable or preventable.
Root causes
Poverty, weak health systems, undernutrition (which underlies nearly half of deaths), unsafe water, and gaps in vaccination and skilled birth care.
Who suffers most
Newborns in their first month are at highest risk. Families in rural Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia carry most of the burden.
Common misconception
"Nothing works in these places." Child mortality has fallen faster than almost any other human-welfare metric β because vaccines, oral rehydration and nets demonstrably work.
β‘ What actually works
Childhood vaccination
Strong evidence
Routine immunization against measles, rotavirus, pneumococcus and more.
Cost & effect: Among the best buys in global health β full immunization costs tens of dollars per child and vaccines are estimated to have saved well over 100 million children since 1974 (WHO).
Oral rehydration + zinc
Strong evidence
A simple salt-sugar solution that stops diarrheal dehydration, the classic child killer.
Cost & effect: Cents per sachet; credited with tens of millions of lives saved since the 1980s.
Vitamin A supplementation
Strong evidence
Twice-yearly high-dose capsules for children in deficient regions.
Cost & effect: Roughly $1β2 per child per year; reduces child mortality meaningfully where deficiency is common.
π§ Act
πΆ With your money
Give to org types running vaccination, nutrition-supplement or maternal-health programs in high-mortality regions.
Compare child-health causes in the Charity Comparison Engine.
β° With your time
Support newborn-supply drives (kits, clothing) via in-kind platforms like Givelink.
π οΈ With your skills
Medical, midwifery or public-health professionals can do short skilled-volunteer stints with field org types.
π£ With your voice
Champion vaccine confidence in your own community β hesitancy costs children's lives everywhere.
π£ Share this
β Questions people ask
How can I help with child mortality?
There's a concrete step for whatever you can offer. With your money, give to org types running vaccination, nutrition-supplement or maternal-health programs in high-mortality regions. With your time, support newborn-supply drives (kits, clothing) via in-kind platforms like Givelink. With your skills, medical, midwifery or public-health professionals can do short skilled-volunteer stints with field org types. With your voice, champion vaccine confidence in your own community β hesitancy costs children's lives everywhere.
What is the most effective way to reduce child mortality?
The approaches with the strongest evidence: Childhood vaccination: Routine immunization against measles, rotavirus, pneumococcus and more. Among the best buys in global health β full immunization costs tens of dollars per child and vaccines are estimated to have saved well over 100 million children since 1974 (WHO). Oral rehydration + zinc: A simple salt-sugar solution that stops diarrheal dehydration, the classic child killer. Cents per sachet; credited with tens of millions of lives saved since the 1980s.
Where should I donate to help with child mortality?
Impact Compass doesn't name individual charities. The higher-leverage path is to back the interventions that work best here (Childhood vaccination, Oral rehydration + zinc) and to choose organizations by how transparently they deliver them. Compare organization types for this cause with the free tools linked above, or give useful items directly through Givelink.
βοΈ One world problem a week
Get one problem, and one thing that actually works against it, in your inbox. Free, once a week, unsubscribe anytime.
Rough figures for context, drawing on: UNICEF Β· WHO Β· Our World in Data. Approximations, not citations. Last reviewed 2026-07-16.
π Embed this problem card on your site β free
Paste this snippet anywhere. It renders a live card for this problem linking back here. Drop the ?problem=β¦ part to rotate a different problem every day.