According to CHART OF THE DAY: Email’s Reign Is Over, Social Networking Is The New King. The proof is here:

Now, alot of people use platforms like Facebook for email and instant messaging, essentially transferring what they do with sites and tools like Hotmail and MSN to Facebook. But they are also do more than that, and that’s likely one of the reason social networking is winning out for the time being.

How sharp is sharp? This sharp:

According to this article in the NYTimes.com, “For the first time in decades, researchers are reporting a significant drop worldwide in the number of women dying each year from pregnancy and childbirth, to about 342,900 in 2008 from 526,300 in 1980.” Indeed, if you look at this chart, it would have dropped even faster if it wasn’t for the scourge of H.I.V.

For those of you who access to The Lancet, you can get the details there (as well as more information from the Times). 

One thing I’d like to underline is this:

“The study cited a number of reasons for the improvement: lower pregnancy rates in some countries; higher income, which improves nutrition and access to health care; more education for women; and the increasing availability of “skilled attendants” — people with some medical training — to help women give birth. Improvements in large countries like India and China helped to drive down the overall death rates”

It’s not rocket science that is saving the lives of women: it’s the basics. More and better care saves lives. Lots and lots of lives.

Providing better health care to women can save alot of lives. Here’s to everyone who is working to drive the number of material deaths down towards zero.