Some Little-Known Good News about Bad News

The child mortality rate in African countries is decreasing at record rates. The top rates of decline are faster than anywhere else seen in the world for at least the last 30 years, thanks to better health care and cleaner environments.

The World Bank's 2013 annual report indicates that economic output in sub-Saharan Africa increased by an estimated 4.7 percent. Poverty has declined, with the share of people of living on less than $1.25 a day falling from 58 percent in 1996 to about 46 percent in 2010.  The World Bank reports that higher commodities, increasing investment and a pickup in world economy will help economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa significantly outpace the global average over the next three years. And investment, which first outpaced aid in 2006, now doubles aid.

Today, 18,000 children under age 5 die each day from hunger and preventable disease. As heartbreaking as that number is, it's down 50 percent from where it was 20 years ago. We're also seeing radical progress against malaria, measles, and other vaccine-preventable diseases. And we've nearly eradicated polio. Waterborne diseases are dropping. We're seeing incredible progress in pretty much every indictor we look at.

Source: Compassion International