Canada's most famous nudist weighs in on the horrible childhood mortality rates in much of the Third World. The six countries responsible for a half of child deaths are Nigeria, Ethiopia, the Congo, China, India and Pakistan. The remedy, Suzuki feels sure, is more assistance from the industrial world, and universal free medicare.
In fact the problem in these countries is more cultural than economic or medical. The first three all receive very generous funding from the USA, UN, EU and others; much of it ends up buying colour coordinated fleets of cars for the generals-turned-politicians who run the show. These three countries also share an inordinate fondness for civil war, frequent coups, and intertribal warfare, none of which tend to benefit children's health. Not only does violence kill many of these children, but the constant fighting disrupts still further the flow of Western-funded water, food and drugs that would prevent many deaths.
The Asian three of the above countries share different problems. In neither India nor China is actual scarcity an issue, and Pakistan is no worse off than many countries that manage much better. Surely an issue here, upon which Suzuki never touches, is the propensity for killing unwanted children, especially girls. In China especially, where the disparity between men and women is starting to complicate marriage patterns, this trend must surely influence overall childhood mortality rates.
Of course, if the statistics were amended to include deaths per 1000 children between conception and age 5, North America would be at the head of the pack. In some states in the USA one in four pregnancies is aborted.
Posted by Clio at July 2, 2003 05:55 PM