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Children

Last reviewed: 05-06-2008

CHILDHOODS STOLEN BY POVERTY, WAR AND DISASTER


Many children in developing countries face hunger, disease and humanitarian crises. Some are denied their childhoods when they are forced to work or when lengthy wars turn them into refugees or soldiers.

  • A child dies every 30 seconds from malaria
  • Up to 250,000 child soldiers in more than a dozen countries
  • Half of child deaths are in Africa

    War and poverty take a heavy toll on the world's youngest, and many do not reach the age of five. Lack of access to health care puts babies at risk, and millions of children die from illnesses like diarrhoea, pneumonia and measles that are no longer a serious problem in richer countries.

    In tropical climates, many children suffer regular bouts of life-threatening malaria and live under the threat of other diseases that can kill, paralyse or blind, or simply take all their energy away.

    The global AIDS pandemic has left children in the care of grandparents or looking after themselves, and treatment for HIV-positive children has been slow in coming.

    Hunger hits children hard, stunting their growth when it goes on too long, and threatening lives when crops fail, drought hits or prices skyrocket out of reach. A child dies of hunger every five seconds, the U.N. World Food Programme says.

    In most developing countries, young people make up more than half the population, so they're often in the majority among people affected when conflict and disasters strike. Many landmine casualties are children, and almost half of the world's refugees are children.

    Armies often force children to fight for them, do harsh labour, act as porters, or serve as sex slaves. Young refugees are vulnerable to other kinds of sexual abuse too, at risk of attack on the road or in refugee camps, or forced into prostitution or exploitation in exchange for basic necessities.

    Children are regularly used by both aid agencies and media to highlight crises, raising a host of moral questions about photographs of children and ethical interview techniques.

    KEY FACTS


    Annual death toll of children under the age of five Nearly 10 million - more than 1,000 every hour (WHO, 2007)
    Deadliest childhood illnesses Pneumonia, diarrhoea, malaria, measles and HIV (WHO)
    Underweight children in developing countries One in four (UNICEF, 2007)
    Estimates child soldiers 250,000 in at least 14 countries (UNICEF 2007 and Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers 2008)
    Children under 15 with HIV 2.3 million (UNAIDS 2007)
    Children in sub-Saharan Africa who have lost one or both parents to AIDS 11.4 million (UNAIDS 2007)
    Countries with worst child mortality rates Sierra Leone (270 out of every 1,000 born alive), Angola (260 out of 1,000), Afghanistan (257 out of 1,000), Niger, Liberia, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Democratic Republic of Congo, Burkina Faso (UNICEF State of World's Children 2008)

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