UNICEF Fact of the week...

9.7 million = the number of children who died before their fifth birthday in 2006.

In 2006, for the first time since records have been kept, the number of children dying before their fifth birthday fell below 10 million, to 9.7 million. This milestone follows a long-term decline in the global under-five mortality rate since 1960. However, many countries still have high levels of child mortality, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, and in recent years have made little or no progress in reducing the number of child deaths. Global progress is insufficient to achieveMillennium Development Goal 4, which is to reduce child mortality by two thirds.

http://www.unicef.org/factoftheweek/index_42745.html