The global mortality rate for children younger than 5 has dropped by nearly half since 1990, the United Nations said Tuesday in an annual report on progress aimed at ensuring child survival, but the decline still falls short of meeting the organization’s goal of a two-thirds reduction by next year. Without accelerated improvements in reducing health risks to young children, the report said, that goal will not be reached until 2026, 11 years behind schedule.

Nearly all of the countries with the highest mortality rates are in Africa, the report said, and two countries that are among the world’s most populous — India and Nigeria — account for nearly a third of all deaths among children younger than 5.

A collaboration of Unicef, other United Nations agencies and the World Bank, the report provides a barometer of health care and nutrition in every country. A child mortality rate can be a potent indicator of other elements in a country’s basic quality of life.

The report showed that the mortality rate for children younger than 5, the most vulnerable period, fell to 46 deaths per 1,000 live births last year, from 90 per 1,000 births in 1990. It also showed that the gap in mortality rates between the richest and poorest households had fallen in all regions over most of the past two decades, except for sub-Saharan Africa.

The report attributed much of the progress to broad interventions over the years against leading infectious diseases in some of the most impoverished regions, including immunizations and the use of insecticide-treated mosquito nets, as well improvements in health care to expectant mothers and in battling the effects of diarrhea and other dehydrating maladies that pose acute risks to the young.

“There has been dramatic and accelerating progress in reducing mortality among children, and the data prove that success is possible even for poorly resourced countries,” Dr. Mickey Chopra, the head of global health programs for Unicef, said in a statement about the report’s conclusions.

Geeta Rao Gupta, Unicef’s deputy executive director, said, “The data clearly demonstrate that an infant’s chances of survival increase dramatically when their mother has sustained access to quality health care during pregnancy and delivery.”

Despite the advances, from 1990 and 2013, 223 million children worldwide died before their fifth birthday, a number that the report called “staggering.” In 2013, the report said, 6.3 million children younger than 5 died, 200,000 fewer than the year before. Nonetheless, that is still the equivalent of about 17,000 child deaths a day, largely attributable to preventable causes that include insufficient nutrition; complications during pregnancy, labor and delivery; pneumonia; diarrhea; and malaria.

While sub-Saharan Africa has reduced the under-5 mortality rate by 48 percent since 1990, the report said, the region still has the world’s highest rate: 92 deaths per 1,000 live births, nearly 15 times the average in the most affluent countries. Put another way, the report said, children born in Angola, which has the world’s highest rate — 167 deaths per 1,000 live births — are 84 times as likely to die before they turn 5 as children born in Luxembourg, with the lowest rate — two per 1,000.

The report noted that “a child’s risk of dying increases if she or he is born in a remote rural area, into a poor household or to a mother with no education.”

From: www.nytimes.com Sept. 16, 2014

The global mortality rate for children younger than 5 has dropped by nearly half since 1990, the United Nations said Tuesday in an annual report on progress aimed at ensuring child survival, but the decline still falls short of meeting the organization’s goal of a two-thirds reduction by next year. Without accelerated improvements in reducing health risks to young children, the report said, that goal will not be reached until 2026, 11 years behind schedule.

Nearly all of the countries with the highest mortality rates are in Africa, the report said, and two countries that are among the world’s most populous — India and Nigeria — account for nearly a third of all deaths among children younger than 5.

A collaboration of Unicef, other United Nations agencies and the World Bank, the report provides a barometer of health care and nutrition in every country. A child mortality rate can be a potent indicator of other elements in a country’s basic quality of life.

The report showed that the mortality rate for children younger than 5, the most vulnerable period, fell to 46 deaths per 1,000 live births last year, from 90 per 1,000 births in 1990. It also showed that the gap in mortality rates between the richest and poorest households had fallen in all regions over most of the past two decades, except for sub-Saharan Africa.

The report attributed much of the progress to broad interventions over the years against leading infectious diseases in some of the most impoverished regions, including immunizations and the use of insecticide-treated mosquito nets, as well improvements in health care to expectant mothers and in battling the effects of diarrhea and other dehydrating maladies that pose acute risks to the young.

“There has been dramatic and accelerating progress in reducing mortality among children, and the data prove that success is possible even for poorly resourced countries,” Dr. Mickey Chopra, the head of global health programs for Unicef, said in a statement about the report’s conclusions.

Geeta Rao Gupta, Unicef’s deputy executive director, said, “The data clearly demonstrate that an infant’s chances of survival increase dramatically when their mother has sustained access to quality health care during pregnancy and delivery.”

Despite the advances, from 1990 and 2013, 223 million children worldwide died before their fifth birthday, a number that the report called “staggering.” In 2013, the report said, 6.3 million children younger than 5 died, 200,000 fewer than the year before. Nonetheless, that is still the equivalent of about 17,000 child deaths a day, largely attributable to preventable causes that include insufficient nutrition; complications during pregnancy, labor and delivery; pneumonia; diarrhea; and malaria.

While sub-Saharan Africa has reduced the under-5 mortality rate by 48 percent since 1990, the report said, the region still has the world’s highest rate: 92 deaths per 1,000 live births, nearly 15 times the average in the most affluent countries. Put another way, the report said, children born in Angola, which has the world’s highest rate — 167 deaths per 1,000 live births — are 84 times as likely to die before they turn 5 as children born in Luxembourg, with the lowest rate — two per 1,000.

The report noted that “a child’s risk of dying increases if she or he is born in a remote rural area, into a poor household or to a mother with no education.”

From: www.nytimes.com Sept. 16, 2014

Le savoir-faire

La chose que j’aurais vraiment voulu faire, beaucoup plus que celle que je fais aujourd’hui et qui (je le dis avec toute l’honnêteté dont je suis capable) ne m’apporte que la satisfaction de pouvoir rester souvent seul chez moi, la chose que j’aurais vraiment voulu faire donc, c’est construire des ponts, des tunnels et des autoroutes. Surtout des ponts ou des viaducs qui sont, à mon sens, les plus beaux ouvrages que l’on puisse concevoir: ce tas de poutrelles, d’écrous, de câbles d’acier, de béton armé et de tous ces éléments que le savoir-faire d’ingénieur s’alliant à la force des ouvriers assemblent et agencent en un élégant ouvrage d’art dégageant, et c’est un paradoxe pour quelque chose d’aussi solide qu’on lui fait passer dessus camions et train, un tel sentiment de légèreté.

Il m’arrive souvent de passer du temps sur mon ordinateur, à regarder des photographies de ponts, de tunnels, de viaducs et de me sentir, à leur vue, à la fois solide et bien ancré et libre et léger et imposant et réconfortant et responsable, enfin bref d’avoir toutes ces caractéristiques que l’on attend généralement d’un père.

Être ingénieur, le maître de ces ouvrages, aurait été pour moi une source de haute satisfaction. Savoir, à la fin de la journée, que mes efforts, que mon travail, que mon “savoir-faire” se seront traduits en quelque chose d’immensément réel, dont l’existence puiserait sa source dans l’implacable logique des mathématiques, dans la connaissance approfondie de la physique et surtout dans la maîtrise de la matière, aurait confirmé que dans la course bizarre de l’humanité, je tenais un rôle modeste mais clair: celui de permettre des passages, par dessus ou par dessous, comme un flux de vie.

GUNZIG, Thomas. Dis-moi dix mots semés au loin.2013.

La Dama de Elche podría no pertenecer al

Templo Ibérico de la Alcudia

El yacimiento de la Alcudia ha sido uno de los lugares donde más vestigios arqueológicos de la cultura ibérica se han encontrado, entre ellos la Dama de Elche. La escultura, encontrada en 1897 por un muchacho que realizaba en un campo agrícola cercano al yacimiento, se cree que, pese a haber sido hallada un poco más lejos, podría haber pertenecido al Templo Ibérico de la Alcudia de Elche.

Sin embargo, un estudio realizado por el profesor y arqueólogo Pedro Peña Domínguez podría romper con todo lo que se conoce hasta el momento sobre este templo y la Dama de Elche. Gracias a las nuevas tecnologías, Pedro Peña (también técnico superior de 3D Studio Max y Virtualizador de Patrimonio) ha descubierto errores en la planimetría del templo y descartado la presencia de la Dama de Elche dentro de la estructura cultural, ya que no hay evidencias de ello.

“Mi objetivo era hacer una recreación para comprobar lo que se había reflejado hasta el momento, para que no se difundiera un único modelo erróneo”, explica Peña Domínguez para justificar su investigación. Para ello, reconstruyó virtualmente el templo ibérico de la Alcudia mediante material de los años 90 del parque arqueológico, procedente en su mayoría de las excavaciones de Rafael Ramos. “Me llamó la atención que sólo hay algunos párrafos en su estudio que hacen referencia al proceso del registro de excavación, pero es normal teniendo en cuenta la metodología de la época, y no desmerece en nada la labor profesional de Rafael Ramos, que descubrió uno de los restos más extraordinarios del mundo ibérico”, explica el profesor y arqueólogo.

Patricia Ariño

Periódico ABC - Madrid 13/09/2014

(Texto adaptado)

La Dama de Elche podría no pertenecer al

Templo Ibérico de la Alcudia

El yacimiento de la Alcudia ha sido uno de los lugares donde más vestigios arqueológicos de la cultura ibérica se han encontrado, entre ellos la Dama de Elche. La escultura, encontrada en 1897 por un muchacho que realizaba en un campo agrícola cercano al yacimiento, se cree que, pese a haber sido hallada un poco más lejos, podría haber pertenecido al Templo Ibérico de la Alcudia de Elche.

Sin embargo, un estudio realizado por el profesor y arqueólogo Pedro Peña Domínguez podría romper con todo lo que se conoce hasta el momento sobre este templo y la Dama de Elche. Gracias a las nuevas tecnologías, Pedro Peña (también técnico superior de 3D Studio Max y Virtualizador de Patrimonio) ha descubierto errores en la planimetría del templo y descartado la presencia de la Dama de Elche dentro de la estructura cultural, ya que no hay evidencias de ello.

“Mi objetivo era hacer una recreación para comprobar lo que se había reflejado hasta el momento, para que no se difundiera un único modelo erróneo”, explica Peña Domínguez para justificar su investigación. Para ello, reconstruyó virtualmente el templo ibérico de la Alcudia mediante material de los años 90 del parque arqueológico, procedente en su mayoría de las excavaciones de Rafael Ramos. “Me llamó la atención que sólo hay algunos párrafos en su estudio que hacen referencia al proceso del registro de excavación, pero es normal teniendo en cuenta la metodología de la época, y no desmerece en nada la labor profesional de Rafael Ramos, que descubrió uno de los restos más extraordinarios del mundo ibérico”, explica el profesor y arqueólogo.

Patricia Ariño

Periódico ABC - Madrid 13/09/2014

(Texto adaptado)

Le savoir-faire

La chose que j’aurais vraiment voulu faire, beaucoup plus que celle que je fais aujourd’hui et qui (je le dis avec toute l’honnêteté dont je suis capable) ne m’apporte que la satisfaction de pouvoir rester souvent seul chez moi, la chose que j’aurais vraiment voulu faire donc, c’est construire des ponts, des tunnels et des autoroutes. Surtout des ponts ou des viaducs qui sont, à mon sens, les plus beaux ouvrages que l’on puisse concevoir: ce tas de poutrelles, d’écrous, de câbles d’acier, de béton armé et de tous ces éléments que le savoir-faire d’ingénieur s’alliant à la force des ouvriers assemblent et agencent en un élégant ouvrage d’art dégageant, et c’est un paradoxe pour quelque chose d’aussi solide qu’on lui fait passer dessus camions et train, un tel sentiment de légèreté.

Il m’arrive souvent de passer du temps sur mon ordinateur, à regarder des photographies de ponts, de tunnels, de viaducs et de me sentir, à leur vue, à la fois solide et bien ancré et libre et léger et imposant et réconfortant et responsable, enfin bref d’avoir toutes ces caractéristiques que l’on attend généralement d’un père.

Être ingénieur, le maître de ces ouvrages, aurait été pour moi une source de haute satisfaction. Savoir, à la fin de la journée, que mes efforts, que mon travail, que mon “savoir-faire” se seront traduits en quelque chose d’immensément réel, dont l’existence puiserait sa source dans l’implacable logique des mathématiques, dans la connaissance approfondie de la physique et surtout dans la maîtrise de la matière, aurait confirmé que dans la course bizarre de l’humanité, je tenais un rôle modeste mais clair: celui de permettre des passages, par dessus ou par dessous, comme un flux de vie.

GUNZIG, Thomas. Dis-moi dix mots semés au loin.2013.

The global mortality rate for children younger than 5 has dropped by nearly half since 1990, the United Nations said Tuesday in an annual report on progress aimed at ensuring child survival, but the decline still falls short of meeting the organization’s goal of a two-thirds reduction by next year. Without accelerated improvements in reducing health risks to young children, the report said, that goal will not be reached until 2026, 11 years behind schedule.

Nearly all of the countries with the highest mortality rates are in Africa, the report said, and two countries that are among the world’s most populous — India and Nigeria — account for nearly a third of all deaths among children younger than 5.

A collaboration of Unicef, other United Nations agencies and the World Bank, the report provides a barometer of health care and nutrition in every country. A child mortality rate can be a potent indicator of other elements in a country’s basic quality of life.

The report showed that the mortality rate for children younger than 5, the most vulnerable period, fell to 46 deaths per 1,000 live births last year, from 90 per 1,000 births in 1990. It also showed that the gap in mortality rates between the richest and poorest households had fallen in all regions over most of the past two decades, except for sub-Saharan Africa.

The report attributed much of the progress to broad interventions over the years against leading infectious diseases in some of the most impoverished regions, including immunizations and the use of insecticide-treated mosquito nets, as well improvements in health care to expectant mothers and in battling the effects of diarrhea and other dehydrating maladies that pose acute risks to the young.

“There has been dramatic and accelerating progress in reducing mortality among children, and the data prove that success is possible even for poorly resourced countries,” Dr. Mickey Chopra, the head of global health programs for Unicef, said in a statement about the report’s conclusions.

Geeta Rao Gupta, Unicef’s deputy executive director, said, “The data clearly demonstrate that an infant’s chances of survival increase dramatically when their mother has sustained access to quality health care during pregnancy and delivery.”

Despite the advances, from 1990 and 2013, 223 million children worldwide died before their fifth birthday, a number that the report called “staggering.” In 2013, the report said, 6.3 million children younger than 5 died, 200,000 fewer than the year before. Nonetheless, that is still the equivalent of about 17,000 child deaths a day, largely attributable to preventable causes that include insufficient nutrition; complications during pregnancy, labor and delivery; pneumonia; diarrhea; and malaria.

While sub-Saharan Africa has reduced the under-5 mortality rate by 48 percent since 1990, the report said, the region still has the world’s highest rate: 92 deaths per 1,000 live births, nearly 15 times the average in the most affluent countries. Put another way, the report said, children born in Angola, which has the world’s highest rate — 167 deaths per 1,000 live births — are 84 times as likely to die before they turn 5 as children born in Luxembourg, with the lowest rate — two per 1,000.

The report noted that “a child’s risk of dying increases if she or he is born in a remote rural area, into a poor household or to a mother with no education.”

From: www.nytimes.com Sept. 16, 2014

Le savoir-faire

La chose que j’aurais vraiment voulu faire, beaucoup plus que celle que je fais aujourd’hui et qui (je le dis avec toute l’honnêteté dont je suis capable) ne m’apporte que la satisfaction de pouvoir rester souvent seul chez moi, la chose que j’aurais vraiment voulu faire donc, c’est construire des ponts, des tunnels et des autoroutes. Surtout des ponts ou des viaducs qui sont, à mon sens, les plus beaux ouvrages que l’on puisse concevoir: ce tas de poutrelles, d’écrous, de câbles d’acier, de béton armé et de tous ces éléments que le savoir-faire d’ingénieur s’alliant à la force des ouvriers assemblent et agencent en un élégant ouvrage d’art dégageant, et c’est un paradoxe pour quelque chose d’aussi solide qu’on lui fait passer dessus camions et train, un tel sentiment de légèreté.

Il m’arrive souvent de passer du temps sur mon ordinateur, à regarder des photographies de ponts, de tunnels, de viaducs et de me sentir, à leur vue, à la fois solide et bien ancré et libre et léger et imposant et réconfortant et responsable, enfin bref d’avoir toutes ces caractéristiques que l’on attend généralement d’un père.

Être ingénieur, le maître de ces ouvrages, aurait été pour moi une source de haute satisfaction. Savoir, à la fin de la journée, que mes efforts, que mon travail, que mon “savoir-faire” se seront traduits en quelque chose d’immensément réel, dont l’existence puiserait sa source dans l’implacable logique des mathématiques, dans la connaissance approfondie de la physique et surtout dans la maîtrise de la matière, aurait confirmé que dans la course bizarre de l’humanité, je tenais un rôle modeste mais clair: celui de permettre des passages, par dessus ou par dessous, comme un flux de vie.

GUNZIG, Thomas. Dis-moi dix mots semés au loin.2013.

La Dama de Elche podría no pertenecer al

Templo Ibérico de la Alcudia

El yacimiento de la Alcudia ha sido uno de los lugares donde más vestigios arqueológicos de la cultura ibérica se han encontrado, entre ellos la Dama de Elche. La escultura, encontrada en 1897 por un muchacho que realizaba en un campo agrícola cercano al yacimiento, se cree que, pese a haber sido hallada un poco más lejos, podría haber pertenecido al Templo Ibérico de la Alcudia de Elche.

Sin embargo, un estudio realizado por el profesor y arqueólogo Pedro Peña Domínguez podría romper con todo lo que se conoce hasta el momento sobre este templo y la Dama de Elche. Gracias a las nuevas tecnologías, Pedro Peña (también técnico superior de 3D Studio Max y Virtualizador de Patrimonio) ha descubierto errores en la planimetría del templo y descartado la presencia de la Dama de Elche dentro de la estructura cultural, ya que no hay evidencias de ello.

“Mi objetivo era hacer una recreación para comprobar lo que se había reflejado hasta el momento, para que no se difundiera un único modelo erróneo”, explica Peña Domínguez para justificar su investigación. Para ello, reconstruyó virtualmente el templo ibérico de la Alcudia mediante material de los años 90 del parque arqueológico, procedente en su mayoría de las excavaciones de Rafael Ramos. “Me llamó la atención que sólo hay algunos párrafos en su estudio que hacen referencia al proceso del registro de excavación, pero es normal teniendo en cuenta la metodología de la época, y no desmerece en nada la labor profesional de Rafael Ramos, que descubrió uno de los restos más extraordinarios del mundo ibérico”, explica el profesor y arqueólogo.

Patricia Ariño

Periódico ABC - Madrid 13/09/2014

(Texto adaptado)

The global mortality rate for children younger than 5 has dropped by nearly half since 1990, the United Nations said Tuesday in an annual report on progress aimed at ensuring child survival, but the decline still falls short of meeting the organization’s goal of a two-thirds reduction by next year. Without accelerated improvements in reducing health risks to young children, the report said, that goal will not be reached until 2026, 11 years behind schedule.

Nearly all of the countries with the highest mortality rates are in Africa, the report said, and two countries that are among the world’s most populous — India and Nigeria — account for nearly a third of all deaths among children younger than 5.

A collaboration of Unicef, other United Nations agencies and the World Bank, the report provides a barometer of health care and nutrition in every country. A child mortality rate can be a potent indicator of other elements in a country’s basic quality of life.

The report showed that the mortality rate for children younger than 5, the most vulnerable period, fell to 46 deaths per 1,000 live births last year, from 90 per 1,000 births in 1990. It also showed that the gap in mortality rates between the richest and poorest households had fallen in all regions over most of the past two decades, except for sub-Saharan Africa.

The report attributed much of the progress to broad interventions over the years against leading infectious diseases in some of the most impoverished regions, including immunizations and the use of insecticide-treated mosquito nets, as well improvements in health care to expectant mothers and in battling the effects of diarrhea and other dehydrating maladies that pose acute risks to the young.

“There has been dramatic and accelerating progress in reducing mortality among children, and the data prove that success is possible even for poorly resourced countries,” Dr. Mickey Chopra, the head of global health programs for Unicef, said in a statement about the report’s conclusions.

Geeta Rao Gupta, Unicef’s deputy executive director, said, “The data clearly demonstrate that an infant’s chances of survival increase dramatically when their mother has sustained access to quality health care during pregnancy and delivery.”

Despite the advances, from 1990 and 2013, 223 million children worldwide died before their fifth birthday, a number that the report called “staggering.” In 2013, the report said, 6.3 million children younger than 5 died, 200,000 fewer than the year before. Nonetheless, that is still the equivalent of about 17,000 child deaths a day, largely attributable to preventable causes that include insufficient nutrition; complications during pregnancy, labor and delivery; pneumonia; diarrhea; and malaria.

While sub-Saharan Africa has reduced the under-5 mortality rate by 48 percent since 1990, the report said, the region still has the world’s highest rate: 92 deaths per 1,000 live births, nearly 15 times the average in the most affluent countries. Put another way, the report said, children born in Angola, which has the world’s highest rate — 167 deaths per 1,000 live births — are 84 times as likely to die before they turn 5 as children born in Luxembourg, with the lowest rate — two per 1,000.

The report noted that “a child’s risk of dying increases if she or he is born in a remote rural area, into a poor household or to a mother with no education.”

From: www.nytimes.com Sept. 16, 2014