98 per cent of the 10.5 million under-five child deaths in 2002 were in developing countries and 35 per cent of Africa's children are at higher risk of death today than a decade ago
If both girls develop chronic diseases with age, the Japanese will receive good treatment, rehabilitation and medications worth about us $550, but the girl from Sierra Leone will get only us $3 of medicines resulting in her death prematurely
Due to a fall in adult mortality in low-mortality regions coupled with a rise in high-mortality areas, the mortality gap has widened between the regions to 340 deaths per 1000 in 2002. Mortality rates in parts of Africa are higher than 30 years ago
hiv/aids is the world's leading cause of death in 15-59 year olds but almost half of the disease burden in high-mortality regions is now due to non-communicable diseases
For the girl in Sierra Leone to have the same chance of a healthy life as in Japan would need scaling up of healthcare systems, which equitably provide access to quality services for acute and chronic diseases, effective disease prevention services and are able to respond to new threats
Source: Anon 2003, The World Health Report 2003, World Health Organisation, Geneva