Children

Pregnancy and birth should be happy times for women and their families, however in many countries they are cause for grave concern as high levels of mortality follow both. While both maternal and infant mortality are easily preventable, there numbers remain at shocking highs in many countries around the world.

In recent news some countries have begun to see the thinning balance between life and death, and are now working to quickly increase prevention programs. Countries such as Ghana, who are now facing a race against time to cut maternal mortality, as it has now been declared a national emergency by Health Minister, Courage Kwashigah. While in the Congo the government sets its sights on infant mortality, as a nationwide campaign has begun to fight the country’s increasingly high rates of infant mortality, as well as juvenile and maternal mortality.

According to the CIA Factbook the Congo ranks 24 on the list, while Ghana ranks number 52 on the list, only serving to further illustrate the extremity for which infant mortality rates needlessly plague the developing world. The top ten country rankings for infant mortality rates (deaths/1,000 live births) are;

1. Angola (182.31)
2. Sierra Leone (156.48 )
3. Afghanistan (154.67)
4. Liberia (143.89)
5. Niger (115.42)
6. Somalia (110.97)
7. Mozambique (107.84)
8. Mali (103.83)
9. Guinea-Bissau (101.64)
10. Zambia (100.96)

In sub-Saharan Africa one can also find the highest maternal mortality rates in the world, as according to the World Health Organization some 900 deaths per 100,000 live births occur each year.

Why are so many countries struggling with such high mortality rates, when the majority of the deaths are preventable?
The main causes of infant mortality were once due mainly due to dehydration and diarrhea, however successful awareness programs about oral rehydration solutions over the last two decades have helped to substantially lower this cause of death. The leading cause of infant mortality is now largely related to pneumonia, however other infections and SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) also play a large role.  Maternal mortality’s leading causes include; bacterial infections, gestational hypertension, hemorrhaging, ectopic pregnancies, amniotic fluid embolism.

In all cases of maternal mortality the shortages of both doctors and midwives is only serving to severely compound the problem. The increasing of free and accessible access to healthcare would significantly decrease the number of deaths, as many women are forced to give birth at home unaided or with unqualified medical assistance, due to the high cost of delivery. An additional and often overlooked cause of high maternal mortality rates is child marriages and child pregnancies, as well as rape and abuse often leading to conditions such as fistula. The cost and lack of access to healthcare also significantly compounds the rate of infant mortality, as mothers do on seek appropriate prenatal care and advice, including advice on the benefits of breastfeeding.

Child marriage question riles Saudi society
The issue of child marriages in Saudi Arabia has united an unlikely coalition of opponents including human rights groups, clerics, journalists and intellectuals who decry the practice as harmful to children. Saudi officials now find themselves under increasing pressure to legislate a legal age for marriage, something the kingdom does not currently have.

Agony of Burma’s dumped children
The devastating cyclone that swept through Myanmar also separated children from their families. According to aid agencies such as UNICEF, as many as 2,000 children in Myanmar are displaced. Reuniting fractured families is complicated by the lack of telephones in Myanmar, as well as the disorganized nature of the country’s refugee camps.

Pregnant women a priority for health services in Myanmar
In the aftermath of Nargis, the country’s worst natural disaster, the risk factors for pregnant women have increased. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the country has a maternal mortality rate (MMR) of 383 deaths per 100,000 live births. Pregnant women are among those in the greatest danger during humanitarian emergencies, with poor nutrition and a lack of access to safe delivery options often having fatal consequences, he explained. Based on fertility estimates, UNFPA estimates that at any given time there are 35,000 pregnant women in the delta, and each month, 4,400 women will give birth; of whom 440 will experience complications, and 220 will require Caesarean sections.

Child mortality rate steady in Asia as income disparity climbs
China and India together account for nearly a third of all child deaths, according to UNICEF. Despite rapid economic growth, particiularly in India, Asian nations have not been able to lower infant mortality rates — owing to a large and increasing gulf between wealthy and poor. Reducing child mortality by two-thirds is one of the Millennium Goals set forth for 2015.

From rebels to soldiers - the SPLA’s transformation
At the new headquarters of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), some 10km north of Juba town, a large scale change is already underway.  “Now, with the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, the SPLA has been transformed into a conventional army … There is a tremendous change.”  The army, he added, is to create a new child protection unit in the coming weeks to ensure that no children are part of the SPLA’s ranks.

Zimbabwe’s Children follow shoppers to South Africa
Zimbabwean children are being drawn to South Africa to run errands and perform piecemeal jobs for shoppers from their own country - who are heading south because of the unavailability of basic goods in their own country. “Some of the children come in from Zimbabwe in the morning and return in the evening. They go through the border and no one seems to do anything to stop them from crossing,” said the guard, who declined to be identified. “I am worried about the little girls who enter the parking lot for the trucks, one wonders what happens in the dark, the girls can be raped.” A 2007 report by Save the Children (UK): Children on the move - Protecting unaccompanied migrant children in South Africa and the region, said the main pull factors for most of the unaccompanied migrant children living in South Africa stemmed from the belief that they had a better chance of finding work or other income-earning opportunities and going to school than if they remained in their home country.

In Zimbabwe Diamonds are Mutare’s best friends
Zimbabwe economy is in meltdown, with unemployment in excess of 80 percent and annual inflation officially at 2.2 million percent, forcing people to seek alternative ways of making a living. “Cases of children dropping out of school are higher in Marange, where the diamond fields are found,” said an official at the ministry of education, who declined to be identified. “The explanation from the children and their parents is that they see no need to pursue education when diamond panning can provide instant riches.”

UN to host rock band Rudely Interrupted
The six-piece Australian rock band Rudely Interrupted will play at the United Nations for International Day of People with Disabilities, on December 3, 2008. Five of the band members have physical or mental disabilities, ranging from autism to Down syndrome. “It allows us to show off to, well basically the whole world, what we are capable of,” said lead singer Rory Burnside, who is legally blind.

This week, 1-7 August 2008, is World Breastfeeding Week

In conjunction with the Olympics next August, WBW 2008 calls for greater support for mothers in achieving the gold standard of infant feeding: breastfeeding exclusively for six months, and providing appropriate complementary foods with continued breastfeeding for up to two years or beyond.

As every country sends its best athletes to compete at these global games, it is important to remind ourselves that, in a similar fashion, a healthy young athlete can only emerge from a healthy start on life. There is no question that optimal infant and young child feeding is essential for optimal growth and development.

Supporting Mother = Supporting Her to Provide the Golden Start For Every Child !

In the wake of rising food prices and soaring malnutrition the need to promote breast feeding has never been greater. While the health benefits of breastfeeding have long since been getting the spotlight in campaigns, a new ali in the battle to see that breastfeeding is key in a child’s early nutritional development is increasing malnutrition and growing food prices. First of all in a climate of nothing other than continually rising prices, breast milk is the one staple that is free.

Large numbers of infants are suffering serious bouts of diarrhea, and in some cases dying, from infant formula provided in emergency situations. Therefore all UN agencies, aid groups, and governments are being urged to ensure women are not automatically given infant formula during emergency situations, and are encouraged to breast-feed.

In recent news the plight of malnourished children across the globe have been highlighted in an effort to increase the participation of women in breastfeeding, as one of the main weapons in the fight against hunger and malnutrition.

In Ethiopia Soaring malnutrition hits children hardest, as there are an some 126,000 children in need of urgent treatment for severe malnutrition, mostly of which are in the impoverished, drought-prone districts of the country.

Breast is best, even for mothers with HIV, as antiretroviral treatments (ART) grately reduced the transmition of the HIV virus from mother to child from breastfeeding.

“HIV-positive mothers on ART lower the risk of transmission through breastfeeding from 20 [percent] to five percent,” said Linda Beyer, an official in charge of Nutrition and HIV/AIDS at the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

In Indonesia Child malnutrition aggravated by food, oil price rises, however Anne Vincent, head of the UN Children’s Fund’s (UNICEF’s) health and nutrition section in Indonesia, said she was”appalled” by eating habits in Indonesia.

“Sometimes they give their children only rice with water. Kids don’t grow on that.”

These ‘bad habits, mixed with a large decline in breastfeeding has lead to the main cause of the country’s high mortality rate, according to Vincent.  Please also see, Diarrhoea takes deadly toll on toddlers consuming infant formula, on how substituting breast milk has often lead to disastrous consequences.

“The lives of 30,000 children could be saved [annually] if mothers breastfed their babies exclusively for the first six months.”

In Yemen a breastfeeding campaign urgently needed according to UNICEF. Nassem Ur-Rehman, chief communications and information officer at UNICEF’s Sanaa office, said nearly half of Yemen’s under-fives were malnourished:

“The health of small children is bad and getting worse. A breastfeeding campaign is urgently needed.”

Ur-Rehman stated that some 84,000 infants die from diseases such as diarrhea, which is the leading cause of death and pneumonia, each year, and that breastfeeding could help reduce such hid mortality rates. Dhekra Annuzaili, UNICEF’s nutrition programme officer, said that “exclusive breastfeeding” has decreased and claimed that both Doctors and the media were not doing enough to promote breastfeeding.

It is apparent that around the globe awareness on the benefits to the long-term health of a child through breastfeeding out way most risks and the preconceived inconveniences, especially as food prices and malnutrition soar, the the economic benefits are becoming almost as necessary as the health benefits. It is blatantly obvious that campaigns to promote and educate families on the benefits of breastfeeding must be put into place by both government and non-government bodies alike.


See other related posts including;
New Hope For Decreasing Mother to Child Transmission of HIV/AIDS
The first 2 years of life are vital for children, but For 3.5 million it has been a miss
Is Breastfeeding heading for extinction in the Philippines?
Millions of Children Needlessly Dying from Preventable Disease
Infant’s Rights to Nutrition

Ex-Oprah school matron pleads not guilty in South Africa on Tuesday, July 29, 2008. Virginia Mokgobo, 27, arrested in November and out on bail, is facing charges relating to common assault, harassment and soliciting a minor to perform indecent acts and verbal abuse.

Pillay confirmed as human rights chief
The UN General Assembly unanimously confirmed the nomination of South African judge Navanethem Pillay as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Chinese teacher heads for re-education over earthquake efforts
A Chinese teacher has been sentenced to one year in a labor re-education camp for taking photos of schools that collapsed in May’s devastating earthquake, Human Rights in China said Wednesday. Liu Shaokun was charged with “inciting a disturbance” after posting his photographs on the Internet.

Ambitious family planning goals
Madagascar, has doubled in the last 25 years, reaching 19.6 million in 2007, according to the UN, and is expected to hit 43.5 million by 2050. In some parts of the country 70% of 16-year-old girls have already given birth to their first child. The Madagascar Action Plan (MAP), has set two ambitious goals: reducing the average size of the Malagasy family and comprehensively meeting the demand for contraceptives and family planning, by making contraceptives more widely available, providing educational programs and reducing unwanted teenage pregnancies.

More education equals less teen pregnancy and HIV
Keeping Kenyan girls in school and ensuring they have access to HIV and sex education has a dramatic effect on lowering future levels of HIV, according to experts.

Women, non-Lebanese children get raw deal
Thousands of children in Lebanon are denied full access to education, healthcare and residency because they do not have Lebanese citizenship. Lebanese women cannot pass on their nationality to their children and in the event of separation, it is the father who gains automatic custody, according to Lebanese nationality law.

Ban disappointed over Darfur, child soldiers
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed deep disappointment at the use of child soldiers and the lack of progress toward a political settlement to the conflict in Darfur in a report released Tuesday. Children were among the rebel soldiers captured after a recent attack on the Sudanese capital.

High fertility rates in Afghanistan lead to high mortality, future troubles
The UN Population Fund warns that Afghanistan’s extraordinarily high fertility rate — the average woman has between six and seven children — has implications for women, the environment, and the future of the nation. On its current track, Afghanistan’s population will more than double by 2050. The nation has the second-highest maternal mortality rate in the world.

Government planning to curb population growth
Yemen’s National Population Council (NPC), a government body, has said it has approved a plan to implement a national population strategy to reduce the fertility rate - one of the highest in the world. The plan aim is to reduce the current fertility rate from 6.1% to 4.0%by 2015, as at current Yemen’s population is increasing by 700,000 every year.

Slavery a problem for Mali
Thousands of Malians are living as slaves, despite the common perception that slavery does not exist in the country. Economic uncertainty, lack of legal prohibition, and cultural tradition are helping to perpetuate the practice, say rights groups.

Food crisis threatening nutrition of young children
Rising prices of basic food commodities have forced the Philippine government to scale down efforts to address malnutrition among children, putting the under sixes at nutritional risk.

Militants hampering anti-polio drive as new case confirmed
Pakistani health officials in the area say campaigns against vaccination teams by militants, and clashes between them and troops, have prevented some 50,000 of the Swat Valley’s 365,000 children under five from being vaccinated.

Pregnant women still struggle to prevent HIV
Larger numbers of pregnant women living with HIV in Swaziland can now access services to prevent mother-to-child transmission of the virus, but activists and health officials say more emphasis should have been placed on quality rather than quantity.

Moving towards universal birth registration
Bangladesh, the world’s seventh most populated country, is moving to provide its over 150 million people with official birth certificates. Recent reports indicate that 40 percent of the population had received a birth certificate by the end of March 2008, while more than 30 percent had been registered and would receive their certificates soon.

New survey indicates family planning weaknesses
World Population Day on 11 July with its theme “Family planning, is a right, make it real” was a bleak reminder for Pakistani health practitioners of the precarious state of maternal, neonatal and child health (MNCH).

Congo warlord accused of recruiting child soldiers set free
Judges at the Hague released a Congolese warlord, held on charges of coercing thousands of children into military service, after prosecutors withheld evidence supplied by the UN that would seem to exonerate him on certain of the charges.

Egypt launches campaign to slow population growth
A new campaign in Egypt attempts to dissuade citizens from having large families as the country struggles with population growth. Birth control is legal but frowned upon by some Egyptians, while abortion remains outlawed and vasectomies are not commonly performed. Egypt’s population has nearly doubled since Hosni Mubarak assumed the presidency in 1981.

Fistula crisis in Uganda
Experts say that, though many women in the Teso subregion of Uganda suffer from fistula, many cases are neither known, reported, nor treated, due to ignorance, limited materials, and limited personnel. It is estimated that nearly 3% of Ugandan women suffer from fistula.

Low-tech filters give Sri Lanka safer water
The introduction of clay pots fortified with low-tech filters by the American Red Cross has provided thousands of Sri Lankan families with access to safe drinking water and is helping to prevent the spread of disease. Water-borne diseases are the country’s number one cause of malnutrition.

Abortion rate on the rise in Middle East
Despite legal and religious restrictions against abortion in much of the Arab world, changing social values and economic realities as well as demographic shifts have contributed to an apparent increase in the number of the procedures in the Middle East.

Chinese protest corruption in case of girl’s death
Images of riots in China’s southwestern Guizhou province showed cars burning and cell-phone cameras snapping, as protesters responded with violence to evidence of police corruption. Following the rape and murder of a 15-year-old girl by an individual with government connections, police called the death a suicide and brutally killed the girl’s uncle, who pressed for justice. Chinese government officials deployed paramilitary soldiers and riot police after 10,000 individuals took to the streets.

Leaders call for funds for women at Glasgow summit
Some participants at the 8th Civicus World Assembly in Scotland say not enough money is going to aid women in the developing world as outlined under the United Nation’s eight Millennium Development Goals. Activists stress that worldwide gender equality is an integral part of the program’s success.

ZIMBABWE: AIDS organisations still grounded
As Zimbabwe’s political crisis deepens ahead of the presidential run-off election on Friday 27 June, and the status of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) remains uncertain, the situation for HIV-positive Zimbabweans is more precarious than ever.

I wanted to bring your attention to IRIN’s  latest film, Love, Positively, which follows the lives of four young adults living in Ugandan capital, Kampala who were infected at birth, and explores the challenges they face growing up with HIV and the courage they need to overcome it.  To see this and other IRIN film click here.

Worldwide more than two million children and adolescents are living with HIV. Close to 90% of pediatric infections occur in sub-Saharan Africa.  Read More Here

On July 6 at 8 and 11 PM ET on CNN, the US Fund for UNICEF will air, “The Survival Project: One Child at a Time”. UNICEF is encouraging supporters to not only to watch the broadcast, but to host a viewing party to discuss these important issues of child survival. UNICEF has developed a viewing party guide to help you to easily host a party. The first 100 parties registered will receive a packet of materials including UNICEF signs and buttons. Register your party today!

The broadcast will be hosted by Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Chief Medical Correspondent for CNN, who will highlighting progress and challenges in child survival. In the broadcast CNN will explore why 26,000 children die every day from preventable causes, and what UNICEF doing to save young lives. The show will look at four areas where UNICEF works on-the-ground to save children’s lives:

• Child protection in Iraq
• Water and sanitation in Laos
• HIV/AIDS in Peru
• Child survival interventions in Ethiopia

New polio threat prompts mass vaccination campaign, as seven million children in nine of the 11 provinces in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are being vaccinated against polio, a disease thought to have been eradicated in the vast country. The campaign, which began on 19 June, targets children up to the age of five, the age group worst affected by polio. One in 200 infections leads to irreversible paralysis, according to the WHO.

Condom use not catching on among youth, in spite of massive spending on efforts to counter HIV/AIDS, experts warn that many young Thais are still having unsafe sex. “Many people know HIV is transmitted by having sex,” he said. “We also know we should stand up and give our seat to old people on the bus, but we don’t do it,” Sittichok Chaisupasin, a 16-year-old peer educator.

Typhoon Fengshen death toll rises to 224, as it moved out of the Philippines on 23 June towards China, leaving at least 224 dead, hundreds missing and thousands homeless, according to the Philippine National Red Cross and Office of Civil Defence. Heavy rains and winds of up to 195km an hour caused landslides, flash floods and storm surges.

Landmines impede civilians’ return to volatile Arghandab, as dozens of landmines have been discovered in Arghandab District, in the southern province of Kandahar. It is estimated that some 60 people, many of which are children, are killed each month in the country by landmines. Millions of landmines were dumped across Afghanistan in the 1980s and 1990s, killing and wounding over 70,000 people so far, according to the United Nations Mine Action Centre for Afghanistan (UNMAC). In other news, insecurity, uncertainty stop return of Afghan refugees, from Pakistan. The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has repatriated 3.3 million Afghans since 2002, including 120,000 from Pakistan in 2008, but some two million registered Afghan refugees remain in Pakistan. The number of unregistered refugees is unknown.

US accuses LRA of abuses, calls for a quick peaceful solution. “The United States condemns the recent LRA attacks on Sudanese Peoples’ Liberation Army forces at Nabanga, Sudan, and elsewhere, as well as the LRA’s abductions and other abuses of innocent civilians in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic and Southern Sudan,” said a statement issued on 18 June. Along with four of his commanders Kony is charged by the ICC with carrying out abductions, killings, rape and conscription of Ugandan children as fighters among other war crimes. Some 30,000 children in northern Uganda have been abducted and forcibly inscripttion into the LRA. Government welcomes Kony’s “change of heart” but rules out more talks; “We only hope that he will put his pronouncement into practice. We note, however, that negotiations were concluded and there will not be a re-opening of the negotiations whatsoever,” Capt Chris Magezi, spokesman for the government delegation, said on 23 June.

“They torched our house, they burnt our livestock, I have nothing left and don’t know where to start.”, said 22 year old Precious, a mother of a six-month-old baby (Telegraph).

According to UNICEF the continued violence is damaging Zimbabwe’s children and the grip it has on the countries children fears to only be tightening. Just last week the government run by President Mugabe’s ordered that all international aid groups and NGOs to stop their field work. On June 4th all aid agencies where ordered to stop all work, as they have been accused of working against Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party. The blocking of aid comes as the country is preparing for the presidential run-off election on June 27th.

Violence in the country arose after the the March 29th presidential elections, when Robert Mugabe was challenged by Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). Mugabe’s Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU-PF), lost the majority in parliament for the first time since the country’s independence in 1980.

Children not spared post-election violence, as children and their families have been displaced from their homes, some 10,000 or more according to UNICEF. Children have been forced out of schools and worse children have been wounded and killed amid the violence and ciaos. Many, especially women and children, have fled to South Africa, such as the woman and child pictured to the right (NY Times).

“The net effect is as many as 500,000 children are now not receiving the health care, HIV/AIDS support, education assistance and food that they require. Many of these children are orphans,” UNICEF said in a statement this past week. As concerns about the children of Zimbabwe’s future rise, UNICEF’s Regional Director for Eastern & Southern Africa, Mr. Per Engebak, said:

“This appalling violence damages children, their potential, and Zimbabwe as a whole. It must stop and it must stop now. All authorities have a legal obligation to protect children; and as a signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the Child there is an international obligation.”

However some 400 AIDS service NGOs allowed to resume operations, nonetheless the news has left many weary and many others wondering if international aid will be allowed in. For now the children of Zimbabwe continue to suffer amid the reigning madness of Mugabe’s hold on the country and the violence that continues to show Zimbabwe’s fragility.


Please see my esteemed colleague Derek Catsam’s posts on the FPA Africa blog and his posts on Zimbabwe for more information on the current situation.