ABSTRACT
Achieving optimal human welfare and survival remains a key challenge for social and economic development in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), where many children die of preventable causes. Current estimates on child deaths show that, of the more than seven million children who died before reaching their fifth birthday in the world in 2010, about half were from the region, although SSA accounts for only about a fifth of the world's young children. Yet the study of child mortality in the region has for a long time been hindered by shortcomings in availability, accuracy, and timeliness of appropriate data and relevant analyses in the region. The convergence happens for both levels in individual countries and sub regional patterns, with the mortality gradients observed for the decades before the 1990s becoming less pronounced and quickly fading over time. However, between country differences in mortality regimes (levels) still remain wide and so, perhaps similarly, do the factors underlying the broad causes and patterns.
