It is Thanksgiving weekend in Canada, and I'm looking for things to be thankful for. I believe I've found a few things in the UNICEF report on "The State of the World's Children 1996", which indicates that the mortality rate of children under the age of 5 has fallen from 256 per thousand in 1960 to 177 per thousand in 1994 in Sub-Saharan Africa; from 239 to 62 in the Middle East and North Africa; from 238 to 124 in South Asia; and from 159 to 47 in Latin America and the Carribean. The rates for 1994 are still very high in comparison with the industrialized world, where the rate in 1994 was only 9 per thousand. Nevertheless there has been progress, and each child born in a poor country now has more of a chance of living to at least the age of five than children had a generation ago. Or to put it another way, more children now stand a much better chance of not dying in their first five years than before. Yet the standard by which most third world children will live is still abysmally low. GNP per capita is still but a small fraction of GNP per capita in the industrialized world. In what the UN characterizes as "least developed countries" it is a mere US$238 per capita, compared with the industrialized world's US$23,195. 41% of the children in the least developed countries suffer from being moderately to severely underweight, and 50% are considered stunted. Only 66% of the children in the least developed countries are enrolled in primary schools. Life expectancy at birth is far lower than in industrially developed countries. Of course, even in the developed world, many children suffer. Many are abused. Many go to school hungry. An increasing number rely on food banks, and homelessness is now not uncommon. Grand pronouncements have been made about children, nationally and internationally. Few have led to anything and, one suspects, few will. What is most aggravating is that these pronouncements are most often made by well-heeled politicians whose own children are well fed, well housed, and well cared for. Still, the generational statistics suggest there is progress, and where there is progress there is hope. While being thankful may be difficult, it is not impossible. So, happy Thanksgiving to all. Ed Weick
