REDUCE CHILD MORTALITY AS A MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENI GOAL IN ROMANIA.

Aim: To assess the efforts made in Romania towards achieving the Goal 4 from MDGs - Reduce Child Mortality. Materials and methods: A descriptive study about the deaths among Romanian children under five, between 2002 and 2015, from the perspective of the MDGs. To help track progress toward this commitment, following specific targets and indicators were developed: Target 1- Halve the mortality rate in children aged 1-4 years between 2002-2015; Target 2 - Reduce infant mortality by 40% between 2002 and 2015; Target 3- Eliminate measles by 2007. The comparison allows establish the status (achieved or not) for each target. Results: From 2002, the under-five mortality rate recorded a continuous descendent trend till now (20.8 to 10.3 under five deaths per 1000 inhabitants in 2013). The infant mortality rates declined from 17.3 to 8.5 deaths per 1,000 live births (2002-2013). Eliminating measles by 2007 - was achieved one year later, because of the measles epidemic in 2005 and 2006. High vaccination rates have been maintained, with the proportion of children 1 year old vaccinated against measles reaching and being maintained at between 94-98%. Conclusions: Substantial progress has been made in Romania, in achieving the Millennium Development Goal no. 4. All the three targets were achieved. However, infant mortality still remains above the average of European Union (4 infant deaths per 1,000 live-births).