International Development week takes place each year on the first full week of February. It is intended to increase awareness of the world's most critical issues in international development, and educate people on how to become active global citizens. Here are a few stats:
- Zimbabwe's cholera outbreak is one of the world's largest ever recorded. More than 60,000 people have been infected and more than 31,000 have died since August 2008.
- Every 30 seconds a child dies from malaria. In Africa a child has on average 1.6-5.4 malaria induced fevers each year.
- In 2007, there were more than 2 million people displaced in Darfur, Sudan.
- Water scarcity affects 4 out of 10 people.
- More than half a million women die every year from complications during pregnancy. The majority of these deaths could be prevented with quality health care before, during and after childbirth.
- In 2002, nearly 11 million children died under the age of 5. Almost all of these deaths (98%) were in developing countries.
- More than 70% of all cancer deaths occur in low and middle income countries.
- Approximately 1 billion people are affected by neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), which are named so because they exist only in the poorest regions. Treatment for some NTDs costs as little as two cents USD.
source: http://www.who.int/en
To find an event near you search the Canadian International Development Agency's (CIDA) calendar of events.
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