Afghanistan: Where Mortality Rates Climb Through the Roof

From the wires:

The death of the withered baby's natural mother during childbirth epitomizes the leading health crisis in war-ravaged Afghanistan, where U.N. officials say 600 infants and 50 mothers die on average each day.

President Hamid Karzai, addressing a health conference Wednesday, called the appalling rates of infant and maternal mortality his nation's "great tragedy."