Afghanistan: fewer children dying

Since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, infant mortality in Afghanistan has dropped by 18 %. Six years ago, 165 out of 1000 children died before their first birthday; by last year the figure had gone down to 135. Researchers from Johns Hopkins University put together the data last year. The International Herald Tribune quotes Afghanistan’s Health Minister Muhammad Amin Fatimi with the words: “There are clear signs of health-sector recovery and progress throughout the country.” According to the World Bank, the decline can be attributed primarily to rural health clinics and the expansion of vaccination programmes against measles, polio and tetanus. However, the infant mortality rate in Afghanistan is still one of the highest in the world. According to UNICEF, respective numbers were 165 for Sierra Leone and 133 for Somalia in 2005, but merely four per 1000 for Germany. (ell)