Pneumonia is now the biggest killer of children in the world, resulting in 3.6 million deaths annually, but in most cases the cure is a five-day course of antibiotics that costs only 25 cents, according to a United Nations report released today.
The means of stopping pneumonia and dozens of other childhood diseases are now "available and affordable," the report said, but countries are not making the necessary investments in basic medical care, sanitation and education.
"The present neglect," the report said, "is a scandal of which the public is largely unaware."
Each week, the report found, a quarter of a million children die of malnutrition and diseases that are either curable or preventable.
"No famine, no flood, no earthquake, no war has ever claimed the lives of 250,000 children in a single week," said James P. Grant, executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund. "Yet malnutrition and disease claim that number of child victims \o7 every week.\f7 "
To bring an end to the "age-old evils" of disease, malnutrition and illiteracy and to save as many as 4 million young lives a year would require an extra investment of $25 billion a year--which is less than Americans spend on beer and half what Europeans spend yearly on cigarettes, the report said.
For the past 10 years, UNICEF has been monitoring the condition of children throughout the world. Today, the report said, less than 10% of the $40 billion spent annually on international aid is devoted to basic human needs--rudimentary health care, nutrition, water and sanitation, primary education and family planning. The bulk of aid is now financing national debts and military expenditures in developing countries.
Yet when even minimal efforts are made to address basic problems plaguing children, "remarkable progress" can be charted, the report said.
Ten years ago, for example, diarrheal disease was the biggest killer of the world's children, claiming almost 4 million young lives each year. Now, there are 1 million fewer deaths each year associated with dysentery and other intestinal ailments, thanks largely to the promotion of a simple, low-cost home remedy known as oral rehydration therapy. The method, largely unknown outside of medical circles until recently, helps assure that children and babies who have severe diarrhea will not die of dehydration.
Perhaps the most spectacular progress in caring for children over the past decade has been made in the prevention of polio, the report said.
