It’s hard to imagine a worse distinction for a country to hold. A recent study in the journal Health Affairs concluded that the United States has become “the most dangerous of wealthy nations for a child to be born into.”
Students embraced after a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., Wednesday that left at least 17 dead. Credit John Mccall/South Florida Sun-Sentinel, via Associated Press
Perhaps most damning, our country didn’t used to hold this status. In the 1960s, the death rate of American children was slightly lower than in other affluent nations. But three factors have changed that:
1. Other countries have had far more success reducing infant mortality. The reasons aren’t fully known, but the uneven American social safety net seems to play a role.
2. Other countries have more sharply reduced vehicle deaths, which are a particular scourge for teenagers. (The United States could easily do the same, as I explained in a recent column.)
May we honor them with anger that does not cease until the unnecessary deaths of children do.
Image: © AP Photo, Gerald Herbert