One in Eight Iraqi Children Dies Before Turning Five Years Old

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Incredibly depressing news about Iraq: “One in eight Iraqi children died of disease or violence before reaching their fifth birthday in 2005.” I know this sounds simple-minded but my God, what an unbelievable horrible place to be a child, or maybe even worse, be a parent.

So yeah, the child mortality rate in Iraq has soared in recent years, and the war-torn country now ranks last in Save the Children’s “child survival rankings.” Ranking first is Iceland. The United States didn’t do so well:

The U.S. placed 26th, tied with Croatia, Estonia and Poland. Nearly seven children die for every 1,000 live births in the United States. That was more than double the rate in Iceland, and 75 percent higher than rates in the Czech Republic, Finland, Japan and Slovenia.

Health care reform, anyone?