AFRICA/ANGOLA: WORST HEALTH INDICATORS ON THE PLANET; LIFE EXPECTANCY 47 YEARS; INFANT MORTALITY RATE 125 FOR EVERY 1.000 BORN ALIVE; MORTALITY OF MOTHERS ESTIMATED 1,500 FOR EVERY 100,000 BORN ALIVE.

Tuesday, 3 February 2004

CUAMM Medici Doctors with Africa has been in Angola since 1997. Here peace arrived only in February 2002 after a long devastating war. But Angola is till a difficult, complex country, with regard to which it is difficult to be indifferent. Everyone you meet has known only war; people are harsh, of military extraction, rigid. Therefore also the European doctor who comes to the ward is one of many: esteem and consideration must be earned with fatigue and humility, slowly, with obsessive perseverance. A country, it should not be forgotten, with the worst health indicators in the planet. Life expectancy at birth 47 years. Infant mortality rate is 125 per 1,000 born alive. Mortality of mothers is about 1,500 for every 100,000 children born alive. See info on CUAMM in Angola (AP) (3/2/2004 Fides Service; lines:16; words: 183)


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