In a handful of the world's poorest countries, roughly one child in ten dies before turning five. Globally child mortality has fallen dramatically, but these nine countries are still at a level that the richest nations last reached around the middle of the twentieth century. The main causes are preventable: diarrhoeal disease, pneumonia, malaria, and complications at birth, often linked to poor sanitation, limited clean water, and few trained health workers. Vaccines, oral rehydration salts, bed nets and better care for newborns have all helped bring rates down elsewhere, showing what is achievable. The gap between the best and worst places is a reminder that progress depends on basic health services reaching everyone. Child survival is often used as the clearest measure of how well a society protects its most vulnerable members.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.