Iraq child mortality soars
AP summary.
Quote:
The chance that an Iraqi child will live beyond age 5 has plummeted faster than anywhere else in the world since 1990, according to a report released Tuesday, which placed the country last in its child survival rankings.
One in eight Iraqi children died of disease or violence before reaching their fifth birthday in 2005, according to the report by Save the Children, which said Iraq ranked last because it had made the least progress toward improving child survival rates.
Iraq's mortality rate has soared by 150 percent since 1990. Even before the latest war, Iraq was plagued by electricity shortages, a lack of clean water and too few hospitals.
Full report, including nations other than Iraq here. Note that Iraq ranks last because the situation has deteriorated the most there since 1990, not because it is actually the worst. Iraq's child mortality ranking is still above nations like Somalia, Cambodia, or Afghanistan, though it is now the worst in the Arab world.
Iraq summaries:
Quote:
Since 2003, electricity shortages, insufficient clean water,
deteriorating health services and soaring inflation have
worsened already difficult living conditions. Some
122,000 Iraqi children (1 in 8) died in 2005 before
reaching their fifth birthday.
More than half of these
deaths were among newborn babies in the first month of
life. Pneumonia and diarrhea are the other two major
killers of children in Iraq, together accounting for over 30
percent of child deaths.Only 35 percent of Iraqi
children are fully immunized, and more than one-fifth
(21 percent) are severely or moderately stunted.
Conservative estimates place increases in infant mortality
following the 2003 invasion of Iraq at 37 percent.
