Les Jones

Middle East > 89,000 Afghanistan Kids Saved This Year

USA Today - Afghan officials: Better care saves 89,000 kids this year:

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Close to 90,000 children who would have died before age 5 in Afghanistan during Taliban rule will stay alive this year because of advances in medical care in the country, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Sunday.

The under-5 child mortality rate in Afghanistan has declined from an estimated 257 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2001 to about 191 per 1,000 in 2006, the Ministry of Public Health said, relying on a new study by Johns Hopkins University.

The U.N. and aid agency Save the Children both hailed the advances in health care in Afghanistan.

"This is certainly very positive news," said the U.N. spokesman in Afghanistan, Adrian Edwards. "To come from such low life expectancy to see this improvement does appear to be an indication that the work on the health sector here is beginning to pay off."

The article goes out of its way to give any credit to the U.S., devoting just one sentence (the last sentence) to the American role: "A U.S.-led invasion in 2001 toppled the Taliban militant movement from power."