Four born every second.

This programme chronicles four births taking place in relative levels of poverty across four countries; America, England, Sierra Leone and Cambodia. The documentary is part of a BBC series; ‘Why Poverty?’ and is a cross-media event, spanning 70 broadcasters in 180 countries. The main focus of the series is; why do one billion people globally live in poverty? The documentary opens by posing the question ‘Is it worse to be born poor or die poor?’ Following the pregnancies and births of four women, all of whom would be defined as poor within their respective countries, the documentary discusses the ‘birth right lottery’; depending on your country of birth, the opportunities available to you, whether you are going to thrive or struggle, depends on where you were born. The documentary follows Starr, a 37 year old married mother of four living in San Francisco, California. Although her baby Billy-Jean has a life expectancy of 78, the United States has one of the worst child mortality rates in the developed world. Starr is shown attending the San Francisco Prenatal Programme, set up by Martha Ryan 22 years previously. In its first year the programme had taken into its care 72 expectant mothers; this year that number had reached 517. Ryan believes that this is evidence of a growing gap between those who have and those who have not in American society. The program then moves to Sierra Leone where Hawa is expecting her fifth child. According to the documentary, nineteen of the twenty worst countries to be born into are situated in Africa; Sierra Leone is at the bottom of the table. According to statistics, in Sierra Leone the average life span is just 49 and the country suffers from a high child mortality rate. Visiting the Gondama Referral Centre, Dr Philip De Almada and Dr Claire Fotheringham tell of their aim to reduce the maternal mortality rate by 75%; from 1 in 8 to 1 in 25. Dr Fotheringham worked out that it cost as little as €1.7 per mother for their treatment and care. Dr Almada believes that the world is rich enough but it is a question of redistribution of that money. The documentary then travels to Cambodia where Nuang is seen with her two children. Her older son must collect empty bottles and cans for money as they have no other source of income. Nuang’s adopted daughter was abandoned at one month; she is now five, living in Cambodia means that she is more likely to suffer malnutrition than go to high school. Recently in Cambodia pregnant women are now offered free health care, unfortunately Nuang’s third baby; LyLy dies at just two months from unknown causes. Finally the film follows Lisa, 22, a single parent living on benefits in the final stages of her second pregnancy; her daughter Grace was born two years previously. Out of all three women Lisa is the only one that appears relatively happy with her life, saying that although people may have more than her, she is happy with what she has got. Of all four countries the UK has the longest life expectancy, many living to see their 100th birthday. The programme attempts to give a worldwide perspective on poverty, revealing the real losers in the birth right lottery. The film has rather shocking footage featuring scenes of still births and statistics about child mortality.