Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's baby lucky to be alive

[ultrafabviolet]

Brad and Angelina's Baby Lucky To Be Alive
Monday, May 29, 2006
By Roger Friedman

Brad and Angelina's Baby Lucky To Be Alive
May 29, 2006

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s new baby girl, Shiloh, is lucky to be alive.

The infant mortality rate in Namibia, according to the CIA’s website, is 48.1 deaths per 1000 live births. In 2003, 21 percent of Namibians died of AIDS. Women are only expected to live to age 42 in Namibia. Men aren't expected to live past their 44th birthday.

I was in Namibia 18 months ago, on the Chobe River dividing that country and Botswana. It’s quite a distance from the Atlantic Ocean “luxury resort” where Pitt and Jolie have been camped out. Their resort, according to its web site, has seven rooms. The place I stayed, Chobe Savannah Lodge, was just as “luxurious” with a few more rooms. The accommodations are beautiful but very simple, with netting over the beds to ward off mosquitoes. There’s no TV, internet, or air conditioning. In fact, when I asked the manager at Chobe Savannah about the internet, he replied: “I might be able to hook up a computer to a cell phone. But why don’t you have a drink and look at the elephant standing behind you?”

But let’s not make any mistake here: any pregnant woman in Namibia would trade just about anything to have her baby in the United States. And not to disparage other parts of the country, but the hospitals where Pitt and Jolie probably would have had Shiloh—Cedars Sinai in West Hollywood or New York Presbyterian in Manhattan—tops in the world. A Namibian mother could not even fathom the care she would receive in either of those places.

Have they ever seen a Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie movie? It’s unlikely. They have little electricity outside the “luxury resort.” The CIA fact book says that 34.9 percent of the population lives on $1 per day and 55.8 percent live on $2 per day. There’s a 35 percent unemployment rate. There may be one movie theater, but there is no record of the Pitt-Jolie action pic “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” having played there. DVD players are nearly non-existent, since a TV would be needed. Few residents—mostly visiting white people and the scattered “wealthy”—have satellite dishes.

So I can only imagine what the Namibians who’ve been pressed into service for this birth are thinking (and not saying) to Pitt, Jolie and company. “Stupid Americans" comes to mind. "Patronizing Hollywood stars" is another. But Namibians are too polite to say such things. They have more important issues on their minds.

SOURCE: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,197369,00.html

'Tis enough to turn me Team Whinyston.

Vi

[nana55]

I agree. Why would you risk the health of your baby when you don't need to. She "feels a connection to Africa". Well there are lots of safer countries in Africa than where they had the baby. I know, I know why she picked Namibia, it is where she picked up her adopted daughter. Stupid reason. This tells me she is all about how it looks than not how it really is. Fucking stupid risk to take to make a point.

[lovely bones]

Time will tell, but it could be that Angelina is in Namibia for the long haul and might actually do something meaningful for that country -- with or without Brad. I doubt he's going to stick it out. (so to speak)

[MrsMarsters]

lmao what an exagerration...millions of babies are born in third world countries everyday..what a crock of shit.

[IceQueen]

I can't understand how the baby is lucky to be alive. Didn't they fly in their doctor from the US? Sure, the mortality rate is low, but I don't see how that translates to the baby. It's not like they are going to be there much longer anyway.

[KD]

^^^yes, and the high mortality rate has something to do with no prenatal care and giving birth at home in unsanitary conditions. Stupid, BS article. In NO WAY did they jepardize their baby's life IMO.

[Nitelite]

My mom had my older sister and me in a thirld world country. No epidurals. Some nurses and one doctor. We are alive. I was born in India. Back then the technology there in hospitals was not that great and yet I am still alive and well just like the billion people living in India. *SHOCK* i know i know i am lucky to be alive. lol


This ariticle is total BS. Angelina had her own doctor there, probably her own medical team. Some of the stuff they write about thirld world countries is so ignorant.

And I think Namibia is actually pretty well developed judging from the pictures I have seen of the country. It's a country where diamonds are mined for, so I'm guessing it's not all that "thirld world" as some people make it out to be.

[isla]

i too am born in third world country....and am healthy like an angel.....

[Beeyotch]

I agree that it's exaggerating the "Angelina's baby is lucky to be alive thing," but it did bring up a valid point: I wonder if the Namibians really feel patronized by her actions or see any value in the attention they're getting. Some of my friends who have traveled say the locals feel resentful of rich visitors, regardless of the larger picture, namely that visitors as rich and high profile as Angelina will actually raise their own nation's visibility and make it more likely to create/help the tourist industry or even just promote awareness of (and fundraising for) national problems.

Personally, I'll be interested to see what effect Angelina's presence has had economically (besides her own donations). Will people stop caring after she's no longer there? Or will actual funds from other sources be directed to the nations she's visiting. I mean, that's what she's going for, I would think, no?

[darksithbunny]

So the attention she is bringing to that country may well be negative for them. Just goes to show, money does not buy common sense.

[asha22]

To think that throughout history women have been giving birth naturally without painkillers and shock horror....actually surviving...........until recent years when it seems to be impossible without doctors poking their elective caeserean noses in!! Ok rant over!!!
Also as soon as they leave Nambia......i predict that the interest, unfortunately, will trail away after them..............so theyd better stay there then!!

[KIMU]

This is crap.

If the parents were from Namibia, maybe the girl would have problems, but Brad and Angelina arent. Please !! what bunch of crap this guy is saying??

[sweetrebel]

Who writes this bullshit? Who pays them to write it?
I can't tell you what the mortality rate is, but it is probably due to poor nutrition, poor prenatal care, etc...
AJ no doubt had the best prenatal care money can buy. Her baby was in no danger from that standpoint-

[tulip]

I agree -- Ang and the baby were FINE. This article is so sensationalistic. However, one interesting point. I don't know about the government and living situation in Namibia, but it seems to me that the government was spending an awful lot of time "protecting" Angie and Brad. I'm sure they will be handsomely compensated by the couple, but I wonder how the locals feel about the government pampering two Hollywood stars?

[MrsMarsters]

I think someone on here that has a deep hatred for angelina and brad on here has written it.