‘Hope Amid Terror’

It was exciting to read your editorial (April 24), “Hope Amid Terror,” in which you told of El Salvador’s heroic step in cutting child deaths by stopping the war for a day to immunize the children.

The first thing that came to mind when I read the editorial was the irony of resuming fighting the day after such an event. Yet when I found out at a local hunger meeting that the number of children dying from immunizable diseases was greater than that caused by all the fighting in El Salvador, I knew it was well worth giving up the war for, even if only for a day.

Who knows, perhaps this act of foes cooperating will open the world’s eyes to what is now possible, the eradication of five major diseases diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, polio and measles in the next five years, thus saving the lives of millions of children and preventing millions more from suffering from their debilitating effects.

To do so will take an effort not just by the Third World countries, where most of these children exist, but also by the developed countries, and in particular the United States, for now is the time to act to save millions of lives.

We cannot let this holocaust continue when only $5 a child could stop it forever. Now is the time that we as a people must decide where are priorities are and let it be known.

STEVEN C. WILLIAMS

La Canada