PHA-Exchange> Child mortality 'at record low' 2 and 3

[Claudio Schuftan]

 There is a famous saying by Churchill:
> "The only statistics you can trust are those you falsified yourself"
> And another one (but he may have taken it from Mark Twain):
> "Statistics are like a lamp post for a drunkard, used more for support
> than for illumination."
> A recent seminar bringing together all the institutes of statistics from
> Africa was held in Rwanda.The host's speech stressed that Africa
> would remain under colonial rule if it did not muster the capacities
> to produce its own statistics and continued to have to rely on the UN and
> other developed countries' modelling.
>  Rwanda has also taken the leadership in the African Union to put together
> the
> first CHARTER on statistics.
> That is, the world situation is such today that most statistical output
> is derived from projections without basic data being collected.
> At present, no one knows exactly the number of inhabitants, or deaths, or
> births, in poor communities.
> As of 2005, extrapolated statistics at WHO HQ estimated that 40% of
> immunizations globally were still unsafe, 5 years after the launch of a
> massive effort to improve safety of immunizations.
> Mre facetiously, a Polish scientist wrote a funny essay: "how to lie with
> statistics"; he said:
> Most people die in their beds - proven by medical statistics. Conclusion:
> never
> sleep in your own bed!  or,  "A little inacurracy saves a world of
> explanation".
> **and to conclude:
> By the way, the average human has one breast and one testicle.  ~Des
> McHale


   G.U.

On 9/13/07, kausar. skhan <kausar.skhan at aku.edu> wrote:
>
>  What this celebration by UNICEF misses is a review of those who die. With
> rise in poverty due to globalization and poor governance within countries,
> there may actually be a rise in mortality amongst the poorest. Not wearing
> the equity lens helps you overlook this darker side of reality
>
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