Saturday, November 21, 2009

Afghanistan the most dangerous place to be born

From ABC News:

In a press conference in Geneva Nov. 19, the South Asia regional director for UNICEF said this: "Afghanistan today is without a doubt the most dangerous place to be born.”

Dan Toole was speaking about UNICEF’s annual report The State of the World’s Children, which is available here.

Toole said Afghanistan has the highest infant mortality rate in the world: 257 deaths for every 1,000 live births. He also said a lack of security prevents polio and measles vaccine campaigns and decreases the number of children attending schools, especially girls. 317 schools have been destroyed by the Taliban in the past year, he said, killing 124 people.

Here’s a list of mortality rates around the world.