ISLAMABAD: National Health Services Minister Saira Afzal Tarar on Wednesday informed the Members of National Assembly (MNAs) that approximately 420,000 children died in 2016 before reaching the age of one, according to a local English daily.
She further said that a total of 6.38 million live births were experienced in the country in 2016 out of which 290,393 infants died before reaching the age of one month. The major reasons for these deaths included premature births. 21 per cent died of asphyxia during birth and 18 per cent died of infections, the minister informed further.
The major reason for death in children before reaching the age of one is pneumonia; which had led to the death of 17.7 per cent of children in 2016, according to the minister.
Diarrhoea caused the death of around 11.3 per cent children, while above-mentioned neonatal cases were responsible for the deaths of some 60 per cent of children.
