Global efforts to address diseases such as malaria and pneumonia have led to a dramatic decline in the number of children dying each year.

In 2015, 5.9 million children under five died, compared to 12.7 million in 1990. However, the world still missed the Millennium Development Goal target of reducing child deaths by two thirds by 2015.

Nearly half of all deaths in children under five are attributable to malnutrition. Failure to treat it undermines the effectiveness of efforts to tackle other diseases such as malaria, diarrhoea and pneumonia. Malnourished children are more likely to get sick: their immune systems don’t develop properly and they can’t defend themselves against illness and infectious disease.

As part of the new Sustainable Development Goals, set in New York in September 2015, global leaders have committed to eliminating all preventable child deaths by 2030. This will not be possible without more concerted & coordinated action to tackle the main underlying cause of child mortality: malnutrition.