| ■ Thousands of African Children Die of Preventable Diseases | 2007.08.27 |
| Every five minutes, eight African children under the age of five die of vaccine-preventable diseases, the United Nations said Tuesday. Polio, tetanus and measles are the primary killers of the children, said a UN statement released at a meeting in Maputo, the capital of Mozambique. Delegates were discussing ways to increase child vaccination rates in Africa, Agence France-Presse reported. About 155 of every 1,000 children born in Africa die before the age of five, the UN said. The UN's World Health Organization and children's fund UNICEF want to halve that death rate by 2015. |