A Brief Look at Infant and Child Mortality Rates
Versus Countries' Access to Clean/Fresh Water
(To view a table of countries with the highest, most improved, and lowest levels of infant and child mortality, refer to the file attached below. Also below is a map that demonstrates information regarding regions without "reasonable access" to safe drinking water.)
According to the map shown after this commentary, in conjunction with the table attached to download, the regions that are experiencing the most severe deprivation of access to clean water (especially water safe to be ingested) are located in Africa and some parts of Asia, and even the Islands above Australia and New Zealand. This is comparable to the fact that most of the top ten countries with the highest infant and child mortality rates are all located in the continent of Africa, according to http://www.indexmundi.com/g/r.aspx?v=29. The countries with the lowest rates are all displayed in areas in which there is about less than twenty percent population without access to safe drinking water.
Doubtlessly, a child's survival is dependent upon whether s/he has clean and fresh and unadulterated water to be provided by his/her caretaker/parent(s). Considering the fact that water is such an essential need, and access to it has been deemed a basic human right (see article below, at the bottom of this page), it goes without question that countries with fecal-matter-contaminated, and otherwise poisoned, water are surely facing ruination, where the survival of their young ones is concerned.
A myriad of studies have been completed in response to the growing multi-national awareness of the detrimental effects of unclean H2O. Our human bodies consist mainly of water, and therefore rely on water as its primary source of health and nourishment, along with substantial food items, of course. Imagine, for instance, if a newborn--"Maereg", we will call her--a beautiful, bouncing baby girl born in Africa's Horn-located Somalia, were to experience her first taste of a watered-down makeshift milk bottle given her by her dutiful and thankful, yet sickly, mother. Say this water was contaminated with five-to-ten percent fecal matter, loaded with poisonous ingredients, especially when a little, immune-system-developing baby is involved. She lacks the physiological and biological capacity to combat this frequent exposure, begotten by the clean-water-deprived state of her nation of birth, and dies. Imagine 100 other children between the ages of 0 and 10 dying due to the same reason, in the same year. That is when people start noticing, after the mourning has already begun.
Now, think of a happy-go-lucky 2-year-old named Ignacio, living a healthy and fulfilled (as far as toddlers are concerned) life in central Spain. He is, even without his knowledge, part of a European country that only sees 3.37 infant and child deaths (both sexes) out of 1,000, per the same year. Good! Fantastic! He is safe. He will live. But what about little Maereg? What about her parents who are ingesting the same toxic water? And who are receiving the same ever-lacking medical care that Ignacio and his family may never have to endure? Don't they deserve the same rights to life that the Spanish and so many other likewise regions already provide, as part of their worldwide "developed" status and reasonable access to non-fatal components of every man, woman, and child's daily diet?
The proportion of the ability to survive to each individual's ability to locate and consume non-toxic water for everyday use, is comparable to the proportion of chocolate in a Kit-Kat. It is ALWAYS a part of it! You cannot have the end-result without the necessary ingredient! And you cannot have life without clean water. They are not mutually exclusive.
"High quality water is more than the dream of the
conservationists, more than a political slogan; high quality water, in the
right quantity at the right place at the right time, is essential to health,
recreation, and economic growth."
EDMUND S. MUSKIE, U.S. Senator, Speech, 1 March 1966
"Children of a culture born in a water-rich environment,
we have never really learned how important water is to us. We understand it,
but we do not respect it."
WILLIAM ASHWORTH, Nor Any Drop to Drink, 1982
According to the map shown after this commentary, in conjunction with the table attached to download, the regions that are experiencing the most severe deprivation of access to clean water (especially water safe to be ingested) are located in Africa and some parts of Asia, and even the Islands above Australia and New Zealand. This is comparable to the fact that most of the top ten countries with the highest infant and child mortality rates are all located in the continent of Africa, according to http://www.indexmundi.com/g/r.aspx?v=29. The countries with the lowest rates are all displayed in areas in which there is about less than twenty percent population without access to safe drinking water.
Doubtlessly, a child's survival is dependent upon whether s/he has clean and fresh and unadulterated water to be provided by his/her caretaker/parent(s). Considering the fact that water is such an essential need, and access to it has been deemed a basic human right (see article below, at the bottom of this page), it goes without question that countries with fecal-matter-contaminated, and otherwise poisoned, water are surely facing ruination, where the survival of their young ones is concerned.
A myriad of studies have been completed in response to the growing multi-national awareness of the detrimental effects of unclean H2O. Our human bodies consist mainly of water, and therefore rely on water as its primary source of health and nourishment, along with substantial food items, of course. Imagine, for instance, if a newborn--"Maereg", we will call her--a beautiful, bouncing baby girl born in Africa's Horn-located Somalia, were to experience her first taste of a watered-down makeshift milk bottle given her by her dutiful and thankful, yet sickly, mother. Say this water was contaminated with five-to-ten percent fecal matter, loaded with poisonous ingredients, especially when a little, immune-system-developing baby is involved. She lacks the physiological and biological capacity to combat this frequent exposure, begotten by the clean-water-deprived state of her nation of birth, and dies. Imagine 100 other children between the ages of 0 and 10 dying due to the same reason, in the same year. That is when people start noticing, after the mourning has already begun.
Now, think of a happy-go-lucky 2-year-old named Ignacio, living a healthy and fulfilled (as far as toddlers are concerned) life in central Spain. He is, even without his knowledge, part of a European country that only sees 3.37 infant and child deaths (both sexes) out of 1,000, per the same year. Good! Fantastic! He is safe. He will live. But what about little Maereg? What about her parents who are ingesting the same toxic water? And who are receiving the same ever-lacking medical care that Ignacio and his family may never have to endure? Don't they deserve the same rights to life that the Spanish and so many other likewise regions already provide, as part of their worldwide "developed" status and reasonable access to non-fatal components of every man, woman, and child's daily diet?
The proportion of the ability to survive to each individual's ability to locate and consume non-toxic water for everyday use, is comparable to the proportion of chocolate in a Kit-Kat. It is ALWAYS a part of it! You cannot have the end-result without the necessary ingredient! And you cannot have life without clean water. They are not mutually exclusive.
"High quality water is more than the dream of the
conservationists, more than a political slogan; high quality water, in the
right quantity at the right place at the right time, is essential to health,
recreation, and economic growth."
EDMUND S. MUSKIE, U.S. Senator, Speech, 1 March 1966
"Children of a culture born in a water-rich environment,
we have never really learned how important water is to us. We understand it,
but we do not respect it."
WILLIAM ASHWORTH, Nor Any Drop to Drink, 1982
geog_assignment_2.doc | |
File Size: | 35 kb |
File Type: | doc |
Mortality rate, infant (per 1,000 live births)
Infant mortality rate is the number of infants dying before reaching one year of age, per 1,000 live births in a given year. Level & Trends in Child Mortality. Report 2011. Estimates Developed by the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UNICEF, WHO, World Bank, UN DESA, UNPD). Catalog Sources World Development Indicators
Country name 2007 2008 2009 2010
Afghanistan 104 103 103 103
Albania 19 18 17 16
Algeria 34 33 32 31
American Samoa
Andorra 3 3 3 3
Angola 104 102 100 98
Antigua and Barbuda 8 8 7 7
Argentina 14 13 13 12
Armenia 20 19 18 18
Aruba
Australia 4 4 4 4
Austria 4 4 4 4
Azerbaijan 44 43 41 39
Bahamas, The 14 14 14 14
Bahrain 9 9 9 9
Bangladesh 44 42 40 38
Barbados 17 17 17 17
Belarus 6 5 5 4
Belgium 4 4 4 4
Belize 16 16 15 14
Benin 78 76 75 73
Bermuda
Bhutan 49 48 46 44
Bolivia 47 45 43 42
Bosnia and Herzegovina 8 8 8 8
Botswana 39 39 37 36
Brazil 21 20 18 17
Brunei Darussalam 6 6 6 6
Bulgaria 12 12 11 11
Burkina Faso 94 94 93 93
Burundi 91 90 89 88
Cambodia 52 49 46 43
Cameroon 86 86 85 84
Canada 5 5 5 5
Cape Verde 31 31 30 29
Cayman Islands
Central African Republic 109 108 107 106
Chad 101 100 100 99
Chile 8 8 8 8
China 19 18 17 16
Colombia 18 18 17 18
Comoros 67 66 64 63
Congo, Dem. Rep. 115 114 113 112
Congo, Rep. 63 62 61 61
Costa Rica 9 9 9 9
Cote d'Ivoire 90 89 87 86
Croatia 5 5 5 5
Cuba 5 5 5 5
Curacao
Cyprus 4 4 3 3
Czech Republic 4 4 3 3
Denmark 4 4 3 3
Djibouti 76 75 74 73
Dominica 12 12 12 11
Dominican Republic 25 24 23 22
Ecuador 20 19 18 18
Egypt, Arab Rep. 23 22 20 19
El Salvador 17 16 15 14
Equatorial Guinea 86 84 82 81
Eritrea 47 45 44 42
Estonia 6 5 5 4
Ethiopia 73 71 70 68
Faeroe Islands
Fiji 16 16 15 15
Finland 3 3 3 2
France 4 4 4 3
French Polynesia
Gabon 57 56 55 54
Gambia, The 59 59 58 57
Georgia 22 21 21 20
Germany 4 4 4 3
Ghana 54 53 51 50
Greece 4 4 4 3
Greenland
Grenada 10 10 9 9
Guam
Guatemala 28 34 26 25
Guinea 88 86 84 81
Guinea-Bissau 96 95 93 92
Guyana 28 27 26 25
Haiti 63 61 59 70
Honduras 23 22 21 20
Hong Kong SAR, China
Hungary 6 6 6 5
Iceland 2 2 2 2
India 52 51 50 48
Indonesia 30 29 28 27
Iran, Islamic Rep. 25 24 23 22
Iraq 32 32 32 31
Ireland 4 4 3 3
Isle of Man
Israel 4 4 4 4
Italy 4 3 3 3
Jamaica 22 19 21 20
Japan 3 3 2 2
Jordan 20 20 19 18
Kazakhstan 32 31 30 29
Kenya 59 57 56 55
Kiribati 42 41 40 39
Korea, Dem. Rep. 26 26 26 26
Korea, Rep. 4 4 4 4
Kosovo
Kuwait 10 10 10 10
Kyrgyz Republic 36 35 34 33
Lao PDR 48 46 44 42
Latvia 9 9 9 8
Lebanon 21 20 19 19
Lesotho 78 72 67 65
Liberia 84 81 78 74
Libya 15 15 14 13
Liechtenstein 2 2 2 2
Lithuania 7 6 6 5
Luxembourg 3 2 2 2
Macao SAR, China
Macedonia, FYR 11 11 11 10
Madagascar 49 47 45 43
Malawi 69 65 61 58
Malaysia 6 6 6 5
Maldives 18 17 15 14
Mali 103 102 101 99
Malta 6 5 5 5
Marshall Islands 24 24 23 22
Mauritania 76 76 75 75
Mauritius 13 13 13 13
Mexico 17 16 15 14
Micronesia, Fed. Sts. 36 35 35 34
Moldova 18 17 17 16
Monaco 4 3 3 3
Mongolia 31 30 28 26
Montenegro 8 8 8 7
Morocco 34 33 32 30
Mozambique 100 98 95 92
Myanmar 54 53 52 50
Namibia 35 33 32 29
Nepal 47 45 43 41
Netherlands 4 4 4 4
New Caledonia
New Zealand 5 5 5 5
Nicaragua 26 25 24 23
Niger 79 77 75 73
Nigeria 95 93 90 88
Northern Mariana Islands
Norway 3 3 3 3
Oman 10 9 8 8
Pakistan 73 72 71 70
Palau 16 16 15 15
Panama 18 18 18 17
Papua New Guinea 49 49 48 47
Paraguay 23 22 21 21
Peru 19 17 16 15
Philippines 25 25 24 23
Poland 6 6 5 5
Portugal 4 3 3 3
Puerto Rico
Qatar 8 7 7 7
Romania 15 14 12 11
Russian Federation 11 11 10 9
Rwanda 71 66 63 59
Samoa 18 18 18 17
San Marino 2 2 2 2
Sao Tome and Principe 54 54 54 53
Saudi Arabia 17 16 16 15
Senegal 53 52 51 50
Serbia 7 7 7 6
Seychelles 12 12 12 12
Sierra Leone 121 119 117 114
Singapore 2 2 2 2
Sint Maarten (Dutch part)
Slovak Republic 8 7 7 7
Slovenia 3 3 3 2
Solomon Islands 24 24 23 23
Somalia 108 108 108 108
South Africa 47 45 43 41
South Sudan
Spain 4 4 4 4
Sri Lanka 16 15 15 14
St. Kitts and Nevis 8 8 7 7
St. Lucia 14 14 14 14
St. Martin (French part)
St. Vincent and the Grenadines 19 19 19 19
Sudan 68 68 67 66
Suriname 29 28 27 27
Swaziland 63 59 57 55
Sweden 3 3 2 2
Switzerland 4 4 4 4
Syrian Arab Republic 15 15 14 14
Tajikistan 58 56 54 52
Tanzania 59 55 53 60
Thailand 12 12 12 11
Timor-Leste 55 52 49 56
Togo 69 68 67 66
Tonga 15 14 14 13
Trinidad and Tobago 25 25 24 24
Tunisia 16 16 15 14
Turkey 18 16 15 14
Turkmenistan 51 50 48 47
Turks and Caicos Islands
Tuvalu 29 28 28 27
Uganda 69 67 65 63
Ukraine 12 12 12 11
United Arab Emirates 7 7 6 6
United Kingdom 5 5 5 5
United States 7 7 7 7
Uruguay 11 10 10 9
Uzbekistan 47 45 45 44
Vanuatu 14 13 13 12
Venezuela, RB 17 17 16 16
Vietnam 21 20 19 19
Virgin Islands (U.S.)
West Bank and Gaza 22 21 21 20
Yemen, Rep. 62 60 59 57
Zambia 78 74 72 69
Zimbabwe 56 54 52 51
Above statistics derived from: http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.IMRT.IN/countries/1W?display=default
Below is an Excel file that contains information on the Infant Mortality Rate (both sexes combined) by major area, region, and country (years 1950-2010)
copy_of_wpp2010_db1_f06_1_imr_both_sexes.xls | |
File Size: | 199 kb |
File Type: | xls |
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jul2010/2010-07-29-01.html
UN Recognizes Access to Clean Water as a Human Right NEW YORK, New York, July 29, 2010 (ENS) - Access to clean, safe drinking water is now an official basic human right everywhere in the world, like the rights to life, health, food and adequate housing. The water rights resolution was approved late Wednesday by the United Nations General Assembly, not unanimously, but without opposition. Safe and clean drinking water and sanitation is a human right essential to the full enjoyment of life and all other human rights, the United Nations General Assembly declared Wednesday, voting to expand the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to include the right to clean water and sanitation.
The 192-member Assembly called on United Nations member states and international organizations to offer funding, technology and other resources to help poorer countries scale up their efforts to provide clean, accessible and affordable drinking water and sanitation for everyone.
Introduced by Bolivia, the resolution received 122 votes in favor and zero votes against, while 41 countries abstained from voting.
The text of the resolution expresses deep concern that an estimated 884 million people lack access to safe drinking water and a total of more than 2.6 billion people, 40 percent of the global population, do not have access to basic sanitation. About 1.5 million children under the age of five die each year because of water-related and sanitation-related diseases.
Children draw water from a public well, Uganda, September 2009. (Photo by African Well Fund) "Diarrhea is the second most important cause of the death of children below the age of five," said Pablo Solon, Bolivia's ambassador to the United Nations, introducing the resolution. "The lack of access to drinking water kills more children than AIDS, malaria and measles combined."
The United States was one of the 41 countries that abstained from voting on this measure - not because the U.S. does not support the universal right to water, but because the UN's Human Rights Council in Geneva is working on the issue in a better way, said John Sammis, U.S. deputy representative to the Economic and Social Council.
"This resolution describes a right to water and sanitation in a way that is not reflective of existing international law; as there is no "right to water and sanitation" in an international legal sense as described by this resolution," Sammis said.
"The United States regrets that this resolution diverts us from the serious international efforts underway to promote greater coordination and cooperation on water and sanitation issues," said Sammis.
"This resolution attempts to take a short-cut around the serious work of formulating, articulating and upholding universal rights," he said. "It was not drafted in a transparent, inclusive manner, and the legal implications of a declared right to water have not yet been carefully and fully considered in this body or in Geneva."
Unlike some, Germany views the text not as a threat to the European Union-led "Geneva process" on water and sanitation, but rather as another component of that process, said Ambassador Peter Wittig.
Women carry water through a desert of stone chips in Madhya Pradesh, India. May 2010. (Photo by Rajib Singha) At the same time, Germany would have preferred that the text include more language proposed by the European Union, he said. It nevertheless included important elements of the work going on within the Human Rights Council and that of the Independent Expert on the subject. Germany invited delegations to support and participate actively in the Geneva process in order fully to understand the right to water and sanitation.
The General Assembly resolution welcomes the UN Human Rights Council's request that Catarina de Albuquerque, the UN Independent Expert on the issue of human rights obligations related to access to safe drinking water and sanitation, report annually to the General Assembly.
De Albuquerque's report will focus on the principal challenges to achieving the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation, as well as on progress towards the relevant Millennium Development Goals.
The Millennium Development Goals, a series of targets for reducing social and economic ills by 2015, includes the goals of halving the proportion of people who cannot reach or afford safe drinking water and halving the number who do not have basic sanitation.
Private water companies support the resolution to enshrine access to clean water and sanitation as a human right, according to AquaFed, the International Federation of Private Water Operators, representing 300 water companies serving hundreds of millions of people in 40 countries.
"For private water operators, this global recognition is an important milestone. Our members and our Federation have been working actively with the United Nations and many other stakeholders for a decade to ensure that the Right to Water and Sanitation is recognized, that it is practical and can be implemented," said AquaFed President Gerard Payen.
"Access to safe clean water and sanitation is truly vital," Payen said. "It is essential for life and necessary for health, education, dignity, gender equality, employment, social and economic development and quality of life."
"The UN Member States have now to work on the implementation of this human right," said Payen. "They have to empower appropriate public authorities, clarify their obligations and make sure that they mandate capable field operators to make this right effective for people."
Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2010. All rights reserved.
UN Recognizes Access to Clean Water as a Human Right NEW YORK, New York, July 29, 2010 (ENS) - Access to clean, safe drinking water is now an official basic human right everywhere in the world, like the rights to life, health, food and adequate housing. The water rights resolution was approved late Wednesday by the United Nations General Assembly, not unanimously, but without opposition. Safe and clean drinking water and sanitation is a human right essential to the full enjoyment of life and all other human rights, the United Nations General Assembly declared Wednesday, voting to expand the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to include the right to clean water and sanitation.
The 192-member Assembly called on United Nations member states and international organizations to offer funding, technology and other resources to help poorer countries scale up their efforts to provide clean, accessible and affordable drinking water and sanitation for everyone.
Introduced by Bolivia, the resolution received 122 votes in favor and zero votes against, while 41 countries abstained from voting.
The text of the resolution expresses deep concern that an estimated 884 million people lack access to safe drinking water and a total of more than 2.6 billion people, 40 percent of the global population, do not have access to basic sanitation. About 1.5 million children under the age of five die each year because of water-related and sanitation-related diseases.
Children draw water from a public well, Uganda, September 2009. (Photo by African Well Fund) "Diarrhea is the second most important cause of the death of children below the age of five," said Pablo Solon, Bolivia's ambassador to the United Nations, introducing the resolution. "The lack of access to drinking water kills more children than AIDS, malaria and measles combined."
The United States was one of the 41 countries that abstained from voting on this measure - not because the U.S. does not support the universal right to water, but because the UN's Human Rights Council in Geneva is working on the issue in a better way, said John Sammis, U.S. deputy representative to the Economic and Social Council.
"This resolution describes a right to water and sanitation in a way that is not reflective of existing international law; as there is no "right to water and sanitation" in an international legal sense as described by this resolution," Sammis said.
"The United States regrets that this resolution diverts us from the serious international efforts underway to promote greater coordination and cooperation on water and sanitation issues," said Sammis.
"This resolution attempts to take a short-cut around the serious work of formulating, articulating and upholding universal rights," he said. "It was not drafted in a transparent, inclusive manner, and the legal implications of a declared right to water have not yet been carefully and fully considered in this body or in Geneva."
Unlike some, Germany views the text not as a threat to the European Union-led "Geneva process" on water and sanitation, but rather as another component of that process, said Ambassador Peter Wittig.
Women carry water through a desert of stone chips in Madhya Pradesh, India. May 2010. (Photo by Rajib Singha) At the same time, Germany would have preferred that the text include more language proposed by the European Union, he said. It nevertheless included important elements of the work going on within the Human Rights Council and that of the Independent Expert on the subject. Germany invited delegations to support and participate actively in the Geneva process in order fully to understand the right to water and sanitation.
The General Assembly resolution welcomes the UN Human Rights Council's request that Catarina de Albuquerque, the UN Independent Expert on the issue of human rights obligations related to access to safe drinking water and sanitation, report annually to the General Assembly.
De Albuquerque's report will focus on the principal challenges to achieving the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation, as well as on progress towards the relevant Millennium Development Goals.
The Millennium Development Goals, a series of targets for reducing social and economic ills by 2015, includes the goals of halving the proportion of people who cannot reach or afford safe drinking water and halving the number who do not have basic sanitation.
Private water companies support the resolution to enshrine access to clean water and sanitation as a human right, according to AquaFed, the International Federation of Private Water Operators, representing 300 water companies serving hundreds of millions of people in 40 countries.
"For private water operators, this global recognition is an important milestone. Our members and our Federation have been working actively with the United Nations and many other stakeholders for a decade to ensure that the Right to Water and Sanitation is recognized, that it is practical and can be implemented," said AquaFed President Gerard Payen.
"Access to safe clean water and sanitation is truly vital," Payen said. "It is essential for life and necessary for health, education, dignity, gender equality, employment, social and economic development and quality of life."
"The UN Member States have now to work on the implementation of this human right," said Payen. "They have to empower appropriate public authorities, clarify their obligations and make sure that they mandate capable field operators to make this right effective for people."
Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2010. All rights reserved.