Children still dying in booming Asian economi

Unicef said more than 40% of the world's children who died before their fifth birthdays in 2006 were living in the Asia-Pacific. It urged governments to face up to "inequities in access to healthcare and huge disparities in health outcomes".

"The divide between rich and poor is rising at a troubling rate within sub-regions of the Asia-Pacific," says the report, titled State of Asia Pacific's Children 2008.

The report says there were 2.5 million child deaths in India and China, the two fastest-growing major economies in the world, accounting for nearly a third of all global child deaths. In India the figure was 2.1 million, whereas in China it was 415,000.

Unicef called for Beijing to step up its efforts, but made plain that India has much to do despite four years of high economic growth.

The report says the Indian economy needs "across-the-board" improvement in healthcare, gender equality and child protection. Particularly troubling was that south Asia spent so little on health, allocating just 1.1% of gross domestic product.

"It is not just bigger health budgets. We could make a big difference by focussing on the three or four states in north India where most of these children die," said Daniel Toole, regional director for Unicef."Governments need to tackle female discrimination in the region too. Half the child deaths recorded in Pakistan, India and Afghanistan occurred in the first month of the baby's life." The boom in private sector healthcare for the region's expanding middle classes is draining hospitals of highly qualified staff with offers of better-paid jobs in private clinics, the report says.

With half the world's children living in the region, Unicef said it was imperative for governments to act if the 2015 global goal of reducing under-five mortality by two-thirds of 1990 levels was to be met.

"India could learn from China's experience in two big ways," said Toole. "One is getting health services out to the villages. China was successful in what was called barefoot doctors. The other is female education. Educated women making educated choices has a big impact on the survival of their children."
From: The Guardian