This is great news from the Economist:
“More children are surviving beyond their fifth birthday, according to a new report from the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef). The child mortality rate—the number of under-fives dying per thousand live births—declined from 90 in 1990 to 65 in 2008, a drop of over a quarter. The number of deaths has fallen from 12.5m in 1990 to 8.8m last year, the lowest since records began in 1960. The biggest improvements are in Latin America and the former Soviet Union, where mortality rates have fallen by more than half. Progress in sub-Saharan Africa, which now accounts for half of all deaths, has been slower, but Niger, Malawi, Mozambique and Ethiopia have seen reductions of more than 100 per 1,000 livebirths since 1990.”