Under-five mortality

The rate of death among children below of 5 years of age in the population

Unit Description

death per 10,000 children under 5 years/day

Numerator

Total number of death in children under 5 years during time period

Denominator

Total number of children under 5 years multiple by number of days in time period over 10,000 persons

Disaggregation

Geographical area

Indicator used for response monitoring ?

Types

Baseline

Threshold / Standard

See Sphere (http://www.spherehandbook.org/en/essential-health-services-standard-1-prioritising-health-services/) for emergency thresholds for different regions. When the baseline rate is unknown or of doubtful validity, agencies should aim to maintain the U5MR at least below 2.0/10,000/day

General guidance

Under-five mortality rate as defined here is strictly speaking not a rate (i.e. the number of deaths divided by the number of population at risk during a certain period of time) but a probability of death derived from a life table and expressed as rate per 1000 live births

Guidance on phases

preparatory; Phases I, II III and IV

Phase applicability

Pre-crisis/Baseline

Phase 1

Phase 2

Phase 3

Phase 4

Data Sources

Representative survey and or from health facility / community records

Comments

These data should be taken from Health Cluster or specific mortality surveys, representative surveys, A proxy can be calculated through health facilities and community records in early phases of emergency. Under-five mortality rate measures child survival. It also reflects the social, economic and environmental conditions in which children (and others in society) live, including their health care. Because data on the incidences and prevalence of diseases (morbidity data) frequently are unavailable, mortality rates are often used to identify vulnerable populations. Under-five mortality rate is an MDG indicator