THE STATE OF THE WORLD’S CHILDREN ...

THE STATE OF THE WORLD’S CHILDREN by James P. Grant (Oxford University Press: $7.50; 90 pp., illustrated, paperback original). Although international efforts have improved conditions in the Third World in recent decades, 12.9 million children still die each year (about 35,000 everyday), more than 60% of them from three groups of easily prevented and treated infections--pneumonia (3.6 million), diarrheal diseases (3 million) and measles (.88 million). Preventing these deaths by providing vaccines, education, medical treatment, nutrition and uncontaminated water would cost about $25 billion annually--less than Americans spend each year on beer.