These tools will no longer be maintained as of December 31, 2024. Archived website can be found here. PubMed4Hh GitHub repository can be found here. Contact NLM Customer Service if you have questions.


Pubmed for Handhelds

PUBMED FOR HANDHELDS

Search MEDLINE/PubMed

  • Title: [The silent revolution: child survival has reached a crossroads].
    Author: Bendahmane DB.
    Journal: Desarro Base; 1994; 18(2):2-12. PubMed ID: 12290208.
    Abstract:
    Over the past three decades, programs to reduce infant and child mortality have spread to most regions of the globe, and improvements in mortality levels have raised life expectancy in developing countries from 50 years in 1965 to over 60 in 1986. Many of the surviving children, however, are impoverished, poorly educated, and living in inhospitable environments. Conditions have worsened for many in the recent past; the World Bank estimates that the proportion living in extreme poverty has increased from 22.4% in 1985 to 25.5% in 1990 in Latin America and the Caribbean. Extreme poverty, once a largely rural phenomenon, has been brought to the cities by millions of rural migrants. War and civil disturbances in many areas have added to the problems of children. UNICEF estimates that 1.5 million children have been killed and six million incapacitated in armed conflicts in the past decade. Advances in education have not kept pace with advances in child survival. In South America, 99% of children begin primary school, but only 48% finish the fourth grade. An estimated 100 million children worldwide leave school by the fifth grade. The very young age structures in most developing countries increase the difficulty of meeting the needs of children and youth. Means must be found to escape the downward spiral of poverty, excessive population growth, and environmental damage. Population control, infant and general mortality reduction, and education reduce the impact of this vicious cycle. Despite the proven contribution of improved female education to child survival, lower fertility, and improved living standards, many poor countries continue to discriminate against girls in education. The examples of some Asian countries such as Korea and Taiwan suggest that investment in primary and secondary education for all broadens the base for development and leads to longterm political stability. International donors, development agencies, and other organizations should invest in human capital so that poverty, rapid population growth, and environmental degradation acting synergistically do not become the dominant mode of underdevelopment in the next century.
    [Abstract] [Full Text] [Related] [New Search]