Child mortality rates increase for six African nations

A new report on the progress of meeting the Millennium Development Goals shows increases in child mortality. Six Sub-Saharan African countries have seen increase in child mortality according to the United Nations.

From this Associated Press article that we found at WNOL-TV, we find out which countries have seen the slip in child health.

The countries that halved their poverty rates since 1990 include relatively populous countries such as Ethiopia and Egypt and post-conflict countries such as Angola, the report said. However, in Nigeria and Zimbabwe, the proportion of the population living in extreme poverty has risen.

Sub-Saharan Africa is the only region in the world registering an increase in the under age 5 mortality rate, which has risen in Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Kenya and Zambia. Thirty-four of the world's 36 countries with child mortality rates above 100 per 1,000 births are in sub-Saharan Africa. The others are Afghanistan and Myanmar.

The Millennium Development Goals Report Card, which was sponsored in part by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, was released Tuesday to coincide with meetings of G-8 and G-20 countries in Canada beginning Friday.

The report said that the key message concerning the millennium goals is that progress is possible.