In some parts of sub-Saharan Africa, nearly 10 percent of children die before they turn 5 years old (SN: 8/3/22); in 2022 alone, around 2.8 million young children died in the entire region. Most are dying from pneumonia, diarrhea or malaria — diseases that can be treated with antibiotics.
But prescribing antibiotics to all children under 5 increases the risk of disease-causing bacteria developing a resistance to the medication, so current recommendations limit routine, widespread antibiotics to infants between 1 and 11 months old. Now, a new study finds that treating everyone younger than 5 not only benefits older kids but also further reduces mortality in infants.