Today, Wednesday, the United Nations celebrated the expected birth of 392,000 children worldwide on the first day of the new year, but at the same time it drew attention to the number of newborns who die before the age of five, despite the progress achieved in saving children.
The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said in a statement that while the number of children dying in the world under the age of five has fallen by more than half over the past three decades, there has been slow progress towards newborns.
She explained that in 2018 the number of newborns who died in their first month reached 2.5 million, including a third of them on their first day of life and most of them died from preventable causes.
UNICEF noted that children who die in the first month accounted for 47% of all deaths among children under the age of five in 2018, compared to 40% in 1990, according to German news agency DPA.
The organization called for better protection and better medical care for mothers and newborns, noting that India tops the ranking of countries that will witness the largest number of births today, with 67,385 children expected to be born.
"UNICEF" expected China to occupy the second place with 46,299 children, then Nigeria, with 26,39 children, followed by Pakistan, then Indonesia, the United States, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Ethiopia.