Five Million African Children Die Each Year

Even though it only makes up 22% of the world's births, five of the 10 million children worldwide who will die before the age of five will perish on the African continent. IPS has more (via OneWorld).

Many of these children die of preventable and curable diseases. UNICEF's report says malaria is the cause of 18 percent of under-five deaths in Africa. Diarrheal diseases and pneumonia -- both illnesses that thrive in poor communities where sanitation is severely compromised, and where residents are often undernourished and exposed to pollution -- account for a further 40 percent of child deaths. Another major killer is AIDS.
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Richard Lee, the South Africa-based media officer for the Sub-Saharan Services Unit of UNICEF, told IPS that dedicated intervention on both national and international levels is required. "If the mortality figures are to be brought down...health care has to be provided from the womb to birth through childhood to adolescence. And this will require large amounts of funding. Governments have to focus their attention on using their resources more effectively, but it is true that most African countries do not have the means to implement different initiatives. Donor funding will be needed to scale up interventions."

I am looking forward to an administration that will actually deal with those dire situations on the continent, and hopefully we'll never again turn a blind eye to the myriad of problems many countries in Africa are still suffering from.

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