ABSTRACT
Most poor people die young in the Third World. Half of all deaths are infants or children; in many poor communities, half of all deaths are children under five years of age. This chapter examines the health problems of children in both urban and rural areas of the Third World. It includes a list of the world’s major diseases, indicating those where reduction could be cheaply achieved by creation of a better environment. These diseases are particularly common in the Third World. In many of the poorest Third World nations, between a quarter and a third of all children die before the age of five; among the poorer families within these nations, one child in two may die before the age of five. This compares with a rate of less than 1 child in 100 dying before the age of five in the richest nations.
