A study conducted by the Health Protection Agency has claimed that about 5,000 children below the age of 5 years in England die every 20 seconds, per day to preventable diseases.

The study observed the death statistics closely from 2003 to 2005.

The researchers said that proper childhood vaccinations can reduce these deaths. They also warned that the vaccines might not be advanced always, so proper upgradation of these vaccines is another responsibility on the shoulders of the health experts and the doctors.

Scrutinizing the death certificates of the children aged between 14 and 28 days, the researchers found that out of the total 6,987 deaths, 20% were occurred due to some preventable infection.

Most common among these infections are prematurity, cerebral palsy and cancer.

The most troublesome infection in some children was found to be the intestinal infection. This infection generally doesn’t hit healthy children and but is hard to be cured in the weaker ones.

The vaccines for Influenza, hepatitis B, rotavirus, and chicken pox have not been considered in the list as of now.

The lead author of the study and consultant in pediatric infectious diseases, Dr. Shamez Ladhani, said the effective uptake of the vaccines currently available would certainly cut down the deaths.

"We have very good vaccination programs in place - but we also need to make sure we are up to date with the latest vaccines out there", he said.