Large parts of the world have not enjoyed the remarkable global progress in health conditions that have taken place over the past century. Indeed, millions of deaths in impoverished nations are avoidable with prevention and treatment options that the rich world already uses. This year, 10 million children will die in low- and middle-income countries. If child death rates were the same as those in developed countries, this figure would be lower than one million. Conversely, if child death rates were those of rich countries just 100 years ago, the figure would be 30 million.

World Food Programme (WFP) Bangladesh organises a walk in the city yesterday. Photo: STAR Hundreds of children, UN officials and their partners yesterday walked the streets of the major cities, including the capital of the country calling for national and global efforts to end hunger and malnutrition of children. Holding colourful festoons and banners and wearing T-shirts that carried slogans 'End Hunger- Walk the World', they walked to raise awareness and funds for WFP to provide school meals to the millions of children who attend schools hungry everyday.

Clutching an intricate bronze cross he used to dig graves during Ethiopia's 1984-1985 famine, priest Alemayu Gede prays drought and high food prices will not make him use it as a shovel again. At the height of the famine that caused more than 1 million deaths and spawned the Band Aid project bringing dozens of top musicians together to raise money, Alemayu helped dig 200 graves a day with the symbol of his faith which he carries everywhere.

A survey conducted by the Department of Public Health (DPH) shows that one out of every 10 students studying in secondary grade smoke tobacco in one form or another, the Department has said. According to a statement issued by the DPH, the survey conducted among school children last year under the "Global Youth Tobacco Survey' program showed that 5.2 percent of students in the secondary grade smoked cigarettes and 4.5 were habitual smokers.

The video gaming industry must do more to protect minors from unsuitable material and cooperate better with national authorities in the eu, the European Commission said after conducting a survey of

CHINA will dynamite rock, mud and rubble forming a dangerously large "quake lake", hoping to avert a new disaster two weeks after a catastrophic tremor struck Sichuan province. The official death toll from the May 12 earthquake is now more than 60,000, but that number is certain to grow as searchers account for more of the 30,000 missing. Premier Wen Jiabao believes the toll could exceed 80,000. The frenzied initial rescue response is cooling into a battle with nature, deprivation and discontent sure to last long after thousands of aftershocks.

The ghost of PC-1 has been hindering the project of Children's Complex in Multan for the last many years. The negligent delay has increased the cost of the project from Rs975 million to Rs1.75 billion, sources reveal to Dawn. The story of the red-tapped project dates back to 1998, when then chief minister Shahbaz Sharif announced a 300-bed Children's Complex for Multan.

The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) yesterday said a child was infected with the deadly H5N1, the strain of bird flu that infects people, in January this year and was cured before diagnosis. The DGHS, as part of its routine surveillance, sent a swab with samples from naso-pharyngeal of the 16-month-old boy to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta which confirmed the H5N1 infection Wednesday.

Australia will donate Tk 520 crore over the next four years to lift the extreme poor out of poverty and improve health of women and children, says a press release. Visiting Deputy Director General of AusAID Richard Moore yesterday signed an agreement with representatives from Brac and UNICEF to this end. From the fund Tk 236 crore is provided to Brac to lift over four million people from extreme poverty in four years. The programme will provide grants to enable women set up small enterprises such as owning livestock, poultry or growing vegetable.

China vowed on Wednesday to deal severely with anyone found responsible for shoddy state building work, as parents demanded to know why last week's earthquake destroyed so many schools, killing thousands of children. Nine days after the massive tremor hit mountainous Sichuan province in southwestern China, rescuers were still finding survivors. A woman was pulled alive from a tunnel at a hydropower plant in the town of Hongbai, state media reported. The number of dead and missing rose to more than 74,000, with a further 247,000 hurt.