The NGO Save the Children has launched a global advertising campaign. A selected advertising agency was entrusted with the campaign to disseminate the International Day of the African Child, which will marked on the 16th of June.
Moreover, it presents this macabre death watch: every minute 19 children die under five years, every hour, 1,140, each day, 27,360, each year nearly 10 million. Of those 10 million, 99% in developing countries.
The said NGO says it is feasible to reduce by 60% of this figure with simple measures and no faces, such as vaccines, oral rehydration, mosquito nets and access to health care. These children are themselves victims of tipycal disorders of newborns: pneumonia and diarrhea. Using these simple measures, would save more than 6 of the 10 million who die young, with easily curable illneses.
From the point of view of the mother, it means that 9 out of 10 mothers in sub-Saharan Africa, one of the areas with the highest infant mortality rates in the world, lost a son during their reproductive life. Besides this region, the rest of Africa and southern Asia are the two main areas where children are more vulnerable to disease and malnutrition.
The map is limited to only 10 countries, including China and India which are the two economic giants. Cruel paradox: China and India boast growth rates that could have an advantage, in this sense, over western countries in the coming decades. China’s economy grows 9% per year and that of India, 8%. Analysts predict China’s economy will double that of Germany in 2011 and will reach Japan’s in 2020.
St. Augustine of Hippo says, "What is left is the rich heritage of the poor."
Clement Ferrer
Independent Forum of Opinion
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