Infant Mortality
Here is some good news: I’ve just read in a report entitled, “Infant Mortality Rate Falls Again" from the Worldwatch Institute, that there has been a continued reduction in child deaths. At 57 deaths of children under age 1 per 1,000 live births, the world’s infant mortality rate is at its lowest level in history. Though that is still 57 deaths too many, it shows that in the midst of all the negative news stories, some things are going right.
The gap between developed and developing regions of the word is also narrowing. However, this is not the time to be complacent. As the Worldwatch Institute reports, the rate at which the gap is closing has slowed. Between 1950 and 1990, infant mortality rates declined by 2% per year, but over the last 15 years the fall has been less than 1% annually.
The HIV/AIDS epidemic and an array of potentially preventable infectious diseases, particularly diarrhea are the main reasons for the lack of progress in reducing child mortality in poorly developed parts of the world, particularly in Eastern and Southern Africa.
And that’s the real point: preventable diseases aren’t being prevented because of the instabilities in many of these parts of the world, so that mothers and infants do not get the prenatal and early-infant care that they need.
All of our work in creating Integrated Medicine and in presenting the burgeoning evidence for the inter-connectedness of all living things has been to help all of us to heal. Then we can apply the same principles throughout the world. A tall order in countries where there is political chaos, but doable nonetheless.
Watch this space.
Dr. Richard G. Petty, MD is a world-renowned authority on the brain, and his revolutionary work on human energy systems has been acclaimed around the globe.
He is also an accredited specialist in internal and metabolic medicine, endocrinology, psychiatry, acupuncture and homeopathy. He has been an innovator and leader of the human potential movement for over thirty years and is also an active researcher, teacher, writer, professional speaker and broadcaster. He is the author of five books, including the groundbreaking and best selling CD series Healing, Meaning and Purpose. He has taught in over 45 countries and 48 states in the last ten years, but spends as much time as possible on his horse farm in Georgia.
