of the World's Children. The publication for 2005 gives a relentless account of
how nearly half of the two billion children throughout the world are robbed of
their childhood through the triple, and often interrelated, realities of poverty,
armed conflict and HIV/AIDS (UNICEF, 2005). Drawing on an empirical study
commissioned by UNICEF, the report looks at how poverty affects children in
the developing world through what is called `severe deprivation' on seven areas.
Over 16 per cent of children under five suffer from `nutrition deprivation' and
are severely malnourished. Most of them already had low weight at birth, many
are anaemic, weak and vulnerable to disease, and some have learning problems,
if they ever go to school, resulting in the chilling prospect that they will probably
remain among the poorest of the poor throughout their lives. About 400 million
children, on average one in five children, have `water deprivation', with no access
to safe water. One in three children, a total of over 500 million children, has no
access to sanitation facilities and suffers from `sanitation deprivation'. Around 270
million children, about 14 per cent, have `health deprivation', with no access to
health care services. Over 640 million children experience `shelter deprivation',
with inadequate housing. Over 140 million children, 13 per cent of those between
seven and eighteen years of age, have `education deprivation' in that they have
never attended school. And over 300 million children have `information depriva-
tion', lacking access to television, radio, telephone or newspapers. Over one billion
children, more than half the child population in the developing countries, suffer
from at least one of these forms of severe deprivation. About 700 million children
suffer from two or more forms of deprivation. The fact that every second child
is deprived of even the minimum opportunities of life is correctly described as
`alarming'.
of deprivation. Severe deprivation among children is not confined to low-income
countries. Many children in extreme poverty live in countries with fairly high
levels of national income. Gender discrimination is an underlying factor of
severe deprivation. Poverty denies children safety, dignity and protection. Material
deprivation exposes children to exploitation and abuse. Child protection abuses
reinforce the generational cycle of poverty. Families form the first line of defence
for children. The further they are from their families, the more vulnerable they
are. Strategies for tackling child deprivation include: harnessing globalization and
economic growth for children's benefits; promoting local solutions and particip-
atory planning for development; strengthening the protective environment for
children and involving children themselves in helping to understand what child
poverty means. Reaching the MDGs would go a long way to reducing the material
poverty that children experience in developing countries. Protecting childhood
from poverty is a global as well as a national responsibility. Interventions that
address child deprivation need to be designed and owned locally, with families
and children part of the solution. And strengthening the protective environment
is essential for children at every level.