signatory
11-04-2007, 10:54 AM
Bad news for the antiwar crowd.
Afghan child mortality drops by 25 pct - ministry
Sun Nov 4, 2007 6:19am EST
KABUL, Nov 4 (*******) - Child mortality has dropped by 25 percent in Afghanistan since the Taliban government was overthrown in 2001, meaning that 89,000 more children survive each year, the Afghan Health Ministry said on Sunday.
After nearly three decades of war, Afghanistan's health indicators are among the worst in the world, but Afghan government and international efforts are beginning to bear fruit, with healthcare reaching 85 percent of the population.
The number of children dying before the age of five had dropped from an estimated 257 per 1,000 in 2001, to 191 in 2006, according to a survey conducted by Johns Hopkins University, quoted by the ministry.
"One of the Afghanistan's biggest miseries has been the death of children at a young age due to the lack of health facilities and equipment," President Hamid Karzai said on Sunday.
"I am thankful to all the health service organisations and the international community from the bottom of my heart," he said. "This is the biggest happiness in Afghanistan -- that we are now able to keep 89,000 children alive."
Only two countries -- Angola and Sierra Leone -- have worse child mortality rates than Afghanistan, according to UNICEF.
Afghanistan is far behind its neighbours Pakistan where 99 children per 1,000 die before their fifth birthday and Iran where the number is 36 per 1,000. Under-five mortality in the United States is seven children per 1,000 and in Norway, Sweden and Finland, it is just four, UNICEF figures show.
The United Nations, international donors and non-governmental organisations have spent billions of dollars trying to rebuild Afghanistan's infrastructure since U.S.-led and Afghan forces toppled the Taliban in 2001 for failing to hand over al Qaeda leaders in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks.
But a Taliban insurgency and poor security continues to hamper efforts to deliver aid and reconstruction to large parts of the country.
http://www.*******.com/article/asiaCrisis/idUSISL222586
Afghan child mortality drops by 25 pct - ministry
Sun Nov 4, 2007 6:19am EST
KABUL, Nov 4 (*******) - Child mortality has dropped by 25 percent in Afghanistan since the Taliban government was overthrown in 2001, meaning that 89,000 more children survive each year, the Afghan Health Ministry said on Sunday.
After nearly three decades of war, Afghanistan's health indicators are among the worst in the world, but Afghan government and international efforts are beginning to bear fruit, with healthcare reaching 85 percent of the population.
The number of children dying before the age of five had dropped from an estimated 257 per 1,000 in 2001, to 191 in 2006, according to a survey conducted by Johns Hopkins University, quoted by the ministry.
"One of the Afghanistan's biggest miseries has been the death of children at a young age due to the lack of health facilities and equipment," President Hamid Karzai said on Sunday.
"I am thankful to all the health service organisations and the international community from the bottom of my heart," he said. "This is the biggest happiness in Afghanistan -- that we are now able to keep 89,000 children alive."
Only two countries -- Angola and Sierra Leone -- have worse child mortality rates than Afghanistan, according to UNICEF.
Afghanistan is far behind its neighbours Pakistan where 99 children per 1,000 die before their fifth birthday and Iran where the number is 36 per 1,000. Under-five mortality in the United States is seven children per 1,000 and in Norway, Sweden and Finland, it is just four, UNICEF figures show.
The United Nations, international donors and non-governmental organisations have spent billions of dollars trying to rebuild Afghanistan's infrastructure since U.S.-led and Afghan forces toppled the Taliban in 2001 for failing to hand over al Qaeda leaders in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks.
But a Taliban insurgency and poor security continues to hamper efforts to deliver aid and reconstruction to large parts of the country.
http://www.*******.com/article/asiaCrisis/idUSISL222586