On Tuesday, October 11, over 20,000 children lost their lives when 28 Boeing 747-400 jumbo jets crashed in scattered disasters around the world. The children, all less than five years old, died immediately upon impact. The countries of India, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Pakistan, and China were the sites of the greatest horror with fully half of the planes crashing in those countries.
Of course, there were no plane crashes killing thousands of children yesterday. If there were you would have heard it on T.V, radio, and from everyone you met. It would have been like 9/11 with non-stop coverage of crash sites, interviews with aviation experts, weeping family members, and anguished public servants. All would be asking how 28 of the largest commercial jets could be filled with children and how could they all tragically fall from the sky.
But, according to estimates in UNICEF’s Child Mortality Rates Report about 20,000 children did die yesterday around the world. And the day before that. And the day before that. According to the best estimates of UNICEF, that many children die every day–shockingly, from preventable causes.
That “only” 20,000 died is an improvement of over 12,000 children per day. The report cites an estimated 12 million children under the age of five died in 1990, while in 2010 the rate had dropped to 7.6 million.
According to Dr. Margaret Chan, WHO Director General, “Reductions in child mortality are linked to many factors, particularly increased access to health care services around the newborn period. As well as prevention and treatment of childhood illnesses, and improved nutrition, immunization coverage, and water and sanitation.” One additional factor is education.
Notice how a mother’s lack of primary education is associated with the highest mortality rate while having a mother with secondary or higher education is associated with an even lower mortality rate than the family being in the wealthiest group within a nation.
While I’m grateful for the decrease, the idea that 20,000 children are still dying for lack of food, healthcare, clean water, and mother’s education tells me the world’s priorities are seriously skewed.
The equivalent of 28 Boeing 747s all full of children younger than five died yesterday. Because these children died in poor countries, in poor families, due to lack of basic resources, and because that many children die every day for those same reasons, by definition that information is not “new” and so not newsworthy. It’s old news as noteworthy as the trash on the street.
The shame is that the causes of these children’s deaths are preventable and the preventive programs, like improved education and health programs are actually, not that expensive.