December 4, 2025
Child deaths to rise this year as aid cuts reverse progress, Gates says
A nurse from Save the Children vaccinates an internally displaced Somali child in Baidoa, Somalia, June 25, 2025. — Reuters LONDON: About 200,000 more children are likely to die before their fifth birthday this year than in 2024, as cuts to international aid undermine decades of progress, the Gates Foundation said on Thursday. The projected increase would mark the first increase in preventable child deaths this century, Gates said, from an estimated 4.6 million in 2024 to 4.8 million this year. Child deaths have halved since 2000. “For decades, the world has made steady progress in saving children’s lives. But












