Of every 1,000 African babies, 89 die in their first year compared to 5 in industrialized countries and 22 in Latin America, according to the latest UNICEF figures.
Hodges told a Johannesburg press conference that some of the African countries expected to be hardest hit by the economic downturn, such as Congo, Liberia and Nigeria, have some of the highest infant mortality rates.
"These are countries in which the shock is particularly high, and the vulnerability of children is particularly high," he said.
Following several years of GDP growth of around 6 percent in Africa, overall growth for 2009 is expected to drop to around 2.8 percent, the Paris-based Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and the African Development Bank said in a report.
UNICEF urged the developed world not to use the meltdown as an excuse to cut aid to Africa and encouraged Africans to do more for themselves, praising countries that were continuing or even expanding social spending.
Africa was at first thought to be isolated from the banking and market crises that sparked the downturn in the West but declining demand for African commodities resulted in job losses at home and Africans working abroad have also lost jobs, causing a drop in remittances.
