Child Survival in Continent

from All Africa

The Namibian (Windhoek)

By Frederico Links
Windhoek

THE naked, emaciated little girl lies with her head resting on the burning sand.

A dark tiny body with a bloated tummy and overly large head.

In the background, horror lurks - a fat black vulture patiently waiting, hoping for the onset of death to feast on the meagre carcass.

This graphic played out in the scorching dryness moments away from a feeding station in the starving waste that was Sudan in 1993.

Who can forget the horror captured in the iconic photograph by South African photographer Kevin Carter that galvanised the international community to launch one of the largest humanitarian operations in history.

The photograph encapsulated the dire state of the African child in the early nineties.

On the eve of the International Day of the African Child, celebrated on June 16 every year, the question is whether the circumstances of the African child have improved in the 15 years since the picture was taken.

According to Unicef's State of the World's Children 2008 report, while there has been progress in some areas, such as access to water and healthcare, sub-Saharan Africa is still a crisis area as far as child survival is concerned.

For a variety of reasons, the region accounts for the vast majority of child deaths under five.

Out of 60 countries identified worldwide as priority countries for child survival in the countdown to meeting the Millennium Development Goals in 2015, 38 are in Africa - 22 in west and central Africa and 16 in eastern and southern Africa.

The Unicef report states: "Of the 62 countries making no progress or insufficient progress towards the Millennium Development Goal on child survival, nearly 75 per cent are in Africa."

WHAT IS A CHILD'S LIFE WORTH?

The figures on child survival in sub-Saharan Africa are startling.

"Sub-Saharan Africa remains the most troubling geographic area.

In addition to having by far the highest rate of child mortality - on average, one in every 6 children dies before age five - the region as a whole has shown the least progress since 1990.

In 2006, 49 per cent of all deaths of children under age five occurred in sub-Saharan Africa, despite the fact that only 22 per cent of the world's children are born there," states the Unicef document: The UN statistics largely relate to healthcare and nutrition, with HIV-AIDs notable amongst the obstacles across a broad range of assessments.

However, the state of the average African child is affected by a myriad of other factors, such as staggering poverty, armed conflicts, displacement and corruption, and many others.

African states in general, for numerous reasons, are weak when it comes to service delivery to their citizens and this is largely also blamed for the slow progress on the MDGs.

ET TU NAMIBIA?

While Namibia is not listed amongst the 38 African countries regarded as a priority country in child survival, children in Namibia are no better off than those in other countries in the region.

The state of the average Namibian child is one of HIV-AIDS coupled with grinding poverty, low access to quality healthcare, alcohol abuse and violence in the home, parental neglect and low access to quality educational opportunities.

Compounding this dismal state is the high incidence of sexual exploitation children suffer in this country, with studies done in the nineties finding that one in three girls and one in five boys suffer some form of sexual abuse before the age of 18.

Current Government figures also indicate that roughly 10 per cent of Namibia's population of around two million people are orphans, largely due to HIV-AIDS, suggesting the country is quickly becoming a large orphanage.

However, the country has made significant progress, even though it still falls short in many cases, across a range of factors influencing the survival of Namibian children, such as healthcare and nutrition and access to water and sanitation.

Available statistics suggest that the state of the African child has not improved much since 1990 and that a lot still needs to be done.