Kathmandu, Oct. 18 -- Nepal may be in line to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal on reducing child mortality rate, but the likelihood of child reaching the age of five still varies about three-fold in some districts and provinces, according to a new study.

The detailed study carried out for mapping child deaths from 2000 to 2017 by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) suggests that tackling inequality of source distribution could save millions of lives. The institute is an independent global health research organisation at the University Of Washington School Of Medicine.

The study, published on Thursday, shows that 18,698 children died before their fifth birthday in 2017. In 2000, the number was 58,633. The highe...