Publications

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Racial Discrimination in Tibet (2000)

Discrimination in Healthcare

Tibetan Children and Infant Mortality

China's White Paper claims concerning the health of Tibetan children continue to distort and conceal the true nature of their condition. In 1992 China asserted proudly that "[c]ompared with 1965, the average height and weight of young Tibetans in the Lhasa area increased by 8.8cm and 5.2kg respectively". Yet a comprehensive survey of health and nutritional situation in the Lhasa valley in 1990 concluded that weight-for-age and height-for-age of Tibetan children were "borderline unacceptable" and in certain counties "unacceptably low" by WHO standards. The Western Consortium for Public Health, a private US-based concern, also concluded in 1996 that the height of Tibetan children was a matter of grave concern, and directly linked to the lack of cost of primary healthcare in the "TAR":

"Many children within the "TAR" are extremely short for their age, so short that 60% fall drastically below accepted international growth reference values. Data indicates that this shortness is a result of nutritional stunting - chronic malnutrition during the first three years of life - rather than a result of genetics or altitude, as previously assumed. These findings should be cause for alarm. Nutritional stress at this critical period in a child's early growth affects neurological development and increases risk of acute illness and death. Chronic malnutrition renders children vulnerable to the common fatal diseases of childhood in the developing world diarrhea and pneumonia. Therefore, an entire generation of children is now at risk""

The Consortium also found that the sweeping changes to traditional patterns of Tibetan existence enforced by the Chinese have also had serious long term effects on the health of Tibetan children:

"The dire health status of Tibetan children is further complicated by the disruption of traditional food and agricultural patterns. This reflects the far-reaching effects of even subtle alterations in indigenous cultures confronting the challenges of rapid change" Three years of research has documented an area of huge neglect regarding the health of this unique and endangered human population."

Similarly, while the Chinese proudly claim that they have reduced the Tibetan infant mortality rate "from 43% in 1959 to 3.677% in 1998", the fact still remains that this is triple the overall mortality rates for infants in China in its entirety. Furthermore, the Chinese assertion that it has increased the average life expectancy of Tibetan people "from less than 36 years before 1949 to the current 65 years" ignores the fact that this still ranks Tibetans as the lowest of China's 18 major nationalities.