Global Child Deaths Halved to 6 Million Deaths Per Year, UNICEF

The global mortality rate for children under five years has more than halved Tuesday, according to a new report from UNICEF. However, it has not reached its goal of a two-thirds reduction by 2015. About 6 million children die every year.

While in 1990, the annual death rate for children was 12.7 million, this year, the number is under 6 million, which reduces the child mortality rate to about 53 percent.

Even as the number has dropped, the deaths are still worrying, considering that children can have "accessible immunizations, mosquito nets treated with insecticide" in order to ward off illnesses, with antibiotics and food supplements, according to NBC News.

"There are still over 16,000 children under 5 that die from preventable causes every day," said Dr. Linda Arnold of the Academy of Pediatrics.

Most of the infants---almost 45 percent---tend to die in the first month after birth, according to hngn.

These deaths are caused by diseases, infections and premature birth, which makes prenatal care important in reducing the numbers further, according to KSL.

Even though the numbers have reduced, the UN is far from reaching its goals. Later this month, the organization will set new goals for child death prevention for the next 15 years, according to DW.