How the World Is Improving Children’s Health (And Where We’re Falling Short)

The most important resolution the United Nations ever passed is also the one of the most head-smackingly obvious ones. It’s been in force since Nov. 20, 1959 and in a perfect—or at least better—world, it would not have been necessary at all. It’s the straightforwardly named Declaration of the Rights of the Child, guaranteeing every child on the planet a name and a nationality, the right to “grow old and develop in health,” to be “protected from racial, religious and other forms of discrimination,” and to have, most fundamentally, a happy childhood. So, how’s that going? In recognition of the resolution, every Nov. 20 is now observed as Universal Children’s Day, and that has been an occasion to evaluate the progress that has been made and, too often, the ground that has been lost. The news this year, as in so many other years, is decidedly mixed. Easily the happiest development for children worldwide is the continued plunge in the rate of under-five child mortality. As recently as 1990, roughly 12.5 million children a year died before their fifth birthday—a stadium-sized 34,000 children every day. That number, UNICEF reports, has now been slashed by 53%. Most of the improvement has come from simple interventions, such as robust vaccination programs against polio, measles, diptheria, pertussis and more; the introduction of bed nets and other preventives against malaria; and effective prevention and rehydration tr...
Source: TIME.com: Top Science and Health Stories - Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Uncategorized child brides Children Disease global child mortality health polio UNICEF United Nations vaccines wars Source Type: news