When 24,000 Kids Dying a Day is the Good News

Unicef is rightly celebrating new figures on child mortality [1]—down below nine million a year for the first time in two decades. That's 10,000 fewer deaths a day, says director Ann Venemen, and that's the number that got the press—but when I heard it, all I could think was that if "10, 000 fewer" is the good news, what's the bad?

I heard the 10,000 fewer figure on NPR while driving to a board meeting for a local museum, and as I sat there, listening to descriptions of the next capital campaign and the need to raise a few hundred thousand dollars for a shade structure in the outdoor park, I kept wondering about that second figure. I had to work a little to get the answer—24,000 kids still die every day from poverty-related, preventable causes, most from pneumonia and diarrhea.

In principle I agree with ethicist Peter Singer, who's said that "philanthropy for the arts or for cultural activities is, in a world like this one, morally dubious. [2]" In practice, I still find myself making donations that will help the less-well-off in my well-off community. I contribute to charities like our local theaters and my kids' school for many reasons—social pressure, personal benefit, the fact that the need, or the solicitor, is staring me right in the face. I don't manage to remember to give where it's truly needed [3] as often as I wish I would. I'm glad we're celebrating 10,000 fewer deaths a day. But I need the media to remind me about the other 8.8 million kids a year who still don't make it past their fifth birthday a lot more often.