UNICEF: Hundreds of Millions of City Children Lack Vital Services
Baku, February 28 (AZERTAC). The United Nations Children`s Fund warns hundreds of millions of children who live in cities and towns are excluded from vital services, including health, education, clean water and sanitation. In this year`s State of the World`s Children report, UNICEF describes the grim reality of children growing up in poverty in city slums, which offer few of the benefits available to children of a wealthier class.
Cities are great places for people who can afford to go to the doctor, get an education and take advantage of the many recreational activities available. But, cities are not such great places for poor children forced to live in slums and shantytowns.
The U.N. Children`s Fund says these children are among the most disadvantaged and vulnerable in the world. It says they live amid violence and exploitation. They are deprived of the most basic services and denied a chance to thrive.
UNICEF`s "State of the World`s Children Report" finds overcrowding and unsanitary conditions in these slums rapidly spread diseases such as pneumonia and diarrhea, two of the biggest killers of children under five in the world.
The report notes one urban resident in three lives in a slum. This rises to six in 10 in Africa. It says many children in slums live close to vital services, such as schools and clinics. The problem, it says, is they are excluded from these services because of poverty and discrimination.
UNICEF spokeswoman, Marixie Mercado, says these problems begin at birth.
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