Reducing global inequalities in child health.

Since 1950, global poverty and child mortality rates have declined more rapidly than during any other period in history. Progress has been uneven, however, so that inequalities have widened; since the 1970s, an increasing number of countries have experienced periods of prolonged economic decline. Eighty countries now have per capita incomes lower than in 1990. Partly in consequence, indicators of maternal and child health and nutrition have remained static or deteriorated.