ISLAMABAD: MNAs were informed on Wednesday that approximately 420,000 children died in 2016 before reaching the age of one.

In a written response to a question, National Health Services Minister Saira Afzal Tarar informed members that there were a total of 6.38 million live births in the country in 2016.

There were 290,393 deaths of infants below the age of one month, she added. Some of the reasons for such deaths were that 40pc of the children were born prematurely, 21pc died of asphyxia during birth and 18pc died of infections.

The minister explained that one of the major reasons for the deaths of infants – babies that are less than a year old – was pneumonia, which had led to the death of 17.7pc of children.

Diarrhoeal diseases claimed the lives of 11.3pc children, while aforementioned neonatal cases were responsible for the deaths of some 60pc of children.

The minister said these numbers were based on neonatal and infant mortality rates measured by surveys, and therefore information on the number of deaths and three and six months was not estimated.

Published in Dawn, March 15th, 2018