An article in the Australian national news paper is titled "Uproar as WHO ranks Aussie kids'
health near worst in world" (which I'm not sure they do but anyway let's continue)
Apparently the World
Health Organization has published a ranking of the "Flourishing index of child health" in The Lancet, which I think is a prestigious British
medical journal.
Apparently the new method of ranking child
medical services in a country includes a measure called "sustainability".
Australia stands one place lower in the "sustainability" rank than the United States at 174 out of 180 countries. At the top of the rankings are 1 Burundi, 2 Chad, 3
Somalia, 4 Dem Rep of Congo, 5 Cent African Rep, 6 Malawi, 7 Rwanda, 8 Mali, 9 Niger, 10
Madagascar.
Overall
Australia lies at number 20 in the "flourishing" index. The article does not say where the U.S. stands.
So if you're cruising in the
South Pacific or circumnavigating past Australia, say through Torres Strait and up through
Indonesia, and have a child needing medical attention you might want to check out the WHO "flourishing index" and jump on a plane to one of the countries in the top 10 of the "sustainability" index with the poor little tyke, after all we all want to see our
children flourish.