Child Mortality at Record Low; Further Drop Seen - New York Times

Good news is no news, says the old journalistic saw. Nonetheless, the New York Times is reporting something that should bring a smile to everyone's face:

For the first time since record keeping began in 1960, the number of deaths of young children around the world has fallen below 10 million a year, according to figures from the United Nations Children’s Fund being released today.

Global public health campaigns are only part of the secret:

This public health triumph has arisen, Unicef officials said, partly from campaigns against measles, malaria and bottle-feeding, and partly from improvements in the economies of most of the world outside Africa.

Economic growth is the most powerful weapon we have against human suffering. Too bad no one actually knows how to build or deploy it.