DAKAR (AFP) -- Half of the global childhood deaths from preventable diseases take place in Africa, the head of the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said.

"There are over 10 million deaths of children throughout the world every year from largely preventable causes -- primarily disease and malnutrition. About five million of those 10 million deaths occur in Africa," Ann Veneman, UNICEF Executive Director said.

Explaining her organization's focus on the impoverished continent after a week-long tour of Senegal Veneman said "community-based approaches" to child mortality are being explored to stem trend.

In Senegal, national survey data show a 15 percent overall decline in child mortality since 2002, while in the regions of Kolda and Tambacounda, where UNICEF has been heavily involved to cut down the rates of child deaths, a 20 percent decline has been recorded over the same period, said Ian Hopwood, UNICEF's representative in Senegal.

While in Senegal, Veneman held talks with UNICEF representatives from throughout Africa on progress made and strategies undertaken toward achieving the UN's Millennium Development Goals (MDG), which range from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of AIDS and providing universal primary education, all by the target year 2015.

She said Senegal was on track toward achieving MDG goal in regards to clean water.

On Thursday, the UN Development Program released its annual Human Development Report, which said that more than 2.6 billion people do not have access to proper sanitation, and dirty water claims more lives than AIDS or conflicts.