Dying from poverty

About 25,000 people die every day of hunger or hunger-related causes, according to the United Nations. This is one person every three and a half seconds. Unfortunately, it is children who die most often. Yet there is plenty of food in the world for everyone.[Poverty.com]

AIDS kills over 2 million people a year, or about one person every 15 seconds.

Pneumonia and other forms of acute respiratory infection (ARI) kill more than 2 million children alone each year in poor countries.

Diarrheal diseases such as cholera and dysentery kill about 1.6 million people each year, almost all of them children. Diarrhea is most often a result of unclean water, unsafe sanitation, or poor hygiene.

Tuberculosis is highly contagious and spreads through the air from coughing. If not treated, a person with TB infects an average of 10 to 15 new people each year. Once thought to be under control, tuberculosis still kills well over 1.5 million people each year, a figure that is now increasing slightly each year.

Over a million people die from malaria each year and many millions more are seriously weakened by it. Malaria is spread by mosquitoes.

Measles. The so-called childhood diseases of measles, pertussis (whooping cough), tetanus, and diphtheria are responsible for a little less than a million deaths per year. Of these diseases, measles takes the greatest toll. Fortunately, all of these diseases are preventable through inexpensive vaccines. At a cost of less than $1 per measles vaccination can make a huge difference in lives saved.

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