Great Message Tonight!

Thanks Brian - great job! I wanted to put the links to the Compassion Website up here in case anyone wants to check it out.

Compassion International

Compassion Sunday

From wikipedia:

Causes of Child Mortality

According to UNICEF, more than 70 per cent of around 11 million child deaths every year result from one the following 6 causes:

1. diarrhea,
2. malaria,
3. neonatal infection,
4. pneumonia,
5. preterm delivery,
6. lack of oxygen at birth.

The majority of child deaths are preventable. Some of the deaths occur from illnesses like measles, malaria or tetanus. Others result indirectly from marginalization, conflict and HIV/AIDS. Malnutrition and the lack of safe water and sanitation contribute to half of all these children’s deaths. Research and experience show that six million of the almost 11 million children who die each year could be saved by low-tech, evidence-based, cost-effective measures such as vaccines, antibiotics, micronutrient supplementation, insecticide-treated bed nets and improved family care and breastfeeding practices.

Rates of Child Mortality

According to UNICEF, these deaths mostly occur in the developing world. An Ethiopian child is 30 times more likely to die by his or her fifth birthday than a child in Western Europe. Among deaths in children, South-central Asia has the highest number of neonatal deaths, while sub-Saharan Africa has the highest rates. Two-thirds of deaths occur in just 10 countries.

Link to World Health Organization (spreadsheet or PDF file of statistics)

Working in the school system I see so many kids who are in so much need. Not to the point of death - but to the point of life in terms of the future. They leave school with so little in the way of resources for surviving and often already parents themselves. So many you start out wondering how they can act so badly and then when you learn more about them you wonder how they even make it to school every day.