New study on child survival

Family planning can save lives of children and benefit the health of mothers, according to a study published recently by the UN Population Division. Entitled "The Health Rationale of Family Planning: Timing of Births and Child Survival," the study finds that survival of children can be improved through delaying child-bearing at least until the mother reaches age 18 and possibly age 20, and more especially through achieving birth intervals of at least two years. Those survival benefits are quite considerable, it states, and are likely to be complemented by wider health benefits for the child. For the health of the mother, the benefits lie in avoidance of the repeated risk of pregnancy and birth. The study encompasses over 280,000 births and nearly 35,000 deaths before age five in 25 developing countries. It recommends that family planning programs should highlight the importance of the appropriate timing of births and supply methods to achieve better spacing of births. Health programs should also encourage breast-feeding, not just to improve the survival and nutritional chances of the current child, but also to delay the next pregnancy and thus increase the survival chances of both the existing and the next child.