Quiz: Do you know these facts about children’s health?

Childhood mortality has been reduced significantly since 1990 by almost 60%.

With continued effort, children can be protected from infectious diseases and live a quality life with basic interventions to promote health care.

50% of mental health problems are established by age 14 with most studies beginning in the mid-teens and growing by the mid-20’s. This has been exasperated by social media trends and access to the internet. Additionally, increases in conflict and crisis around the world have led to higher cases of mental health problems for children.

The morbid truth is that a child born in sub-Saharan Africa is 14 times more likely to die in their first month of life than a child born in Australia.

Why is that? Access to primary health care is a major necessity for any child in the first years of life.

1 in 5 children in the U.S. have obesity. Obesity is more prevalent in Hispanic children and non-Hispanic Black children. Family income is also a factor with obesity rates rising as income decreases.

Obesity can lead to further health issues including hypertension, diabetes, and heart disease.

More than 1 million children under 15 fall ill to tuberculosis every year and more than half are not diagnosed or not reported so this number may be higher than known. Tuberculosis is preventable and there are TB preventative treatments which children and adults can take to aid in protection against the deadly disease.