Oxfam: Pregnant Afghan Woman Dies Every 30 Minutes

[tekisui]

Source: CommonDreams

Oxfam has attacked international efforts to help the poor in Afghanistan and revealed a woman dies there every 30 minutes from childbirth complications.

On the eve of the country's elections the charity described aid efforts as "ineffective, uncoordinated and wasteful".

A third of Afghanistan is still at risk of hunger despite the billions of pounds donated to the country, it warned.

Oxfam said America was spending about a £60m a day on its military budget in the country - but the aid budget from all the other international donors combined is less than £4.25m a day.

That, the agency said, is woefully inadequate.

Sky News travelled to one of the poorest areas of Afghanistan and discovered a village living in virtually medieval conditions.

Tut Bloc is in Badakshan Province in the north east of the country tucked away in the Pamir mountains and inaccessible by road.

We drove as far as we could by four-wheel drive along pot-holed roads before taking donkeys on the remaining four-hour trek up the mountain to the village.

There we found families who said they had nothing to eat but naan - the Afghan flat bread.

There were whole families without a male. Most of the able men will leave in the next two weeks once the wheat harvest is over, to try to find work elsewhere.

more: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/08/19-10

[aquart]

1. 65% unemployment. 25% underemployment.

And no birth control. So what is it we think we can do there?

[tekisui]

2. Tear the country apart with bullets and bombs so the war

profiteers can keep making making billions.:shrug: