Full coverage: Children

31.05.2008 CAPE TOWN, May 30 (IPS) - When four-year-old Alice Were suddenly developed a fever, her mother Miriam took her to the local medicine woman close to her house in Kangemi, a poor, cramped settlement on the outskirts of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. Two days later, Alice was unconscious. Her frantic mother rushed to hospital with the child in her arms. But it was too late. Alice died of malaria.

30.05.2008 Short interviews with Addis Bekalu, 18, from Ethiopia, Sanchita Rani Das, 17, from Bangladesh, and several other young women illustrate how empowering an adolescent girl can make the world a better place.
From: The Girl Effect

30.05.2008 A recent visit by an NGO to a primary government school in Delhi reveals a dismal state of education. Despite a new building and all infrastructural facilities, the school offers little to its students. This case is but a reflection of the situation commonly faced by most of the city’s poorer children.

30.05.2008 The United States Agency for International Development and International Youth Foundation will soon start the Bridgeit program in remote schools in Tanzania. The project will focus on increasing quality education and student achievement through the innovative use of cell phones and digital technology.

29.05.2008 Only 27% of India's rural schools have electricity and half of them have toilets for girls. A survey carried out in 11 countries in Latin America, Asia and North Africa by UNESCO reveals that lack of resources and poor socio-economic status of parents result in low turnout of students.

29.05.2008 A large number of children remain out of school in Rajasthan in western India. In an effort to bring learning opportunities to all, the State government has signed an agreement with UNICEF under its Public Private Partnership framework to fund projects with special focus on educating the girl child.

29.05.2008 At a shareholders meeting just days before "World No Tobacco Day," the embattled cigarette giant Altria (formerly Philip Morris USA) has been urged to scale back its massive lobbying efforts against U.S. public health and tobacco control.

28.05.2008 Low-cost devices in educational systems: The use of the “XO-Laptop” in the Ethiopian Educational System reveals that the “One Laptop Per Child Initiative” is yielding desired results for the education system in Ethiopia. This report gives an overview on possible use and impact of low-cost computing devices in developing countries.

27.05.2008 Sexual abuse by aid workers and peacekeepers goes widely unreported as victims decline to speak out for fear of negative repercussions, says report released today by Save the Children.

27.05.2008 A center for street children in Pattaya, Thailand serves as the first caring community setting that many of these exploited youth have ever experienced.

22.05.2008 "Strenuous" international efforts have failed to protect tens of thousands of children from being recruited to fight in armed conflicts around the world, says a new report from the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers.
From: Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers

22.05.2008 In a recent campaign by the government in Bangladesh, 19 million children under the age of five have been administered life-saving vitamin A doses. Vitamin A deficiency increases the risk of diseases measles and diarrhoea, both contributing to more than one-third of child deaths in the country.

22.05.2008 Child soldiering is driven by power imbalance between adults and children, says Dr. Vinya Ariyaratne, head of the Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement, one of Sri Lanka’s biggest charitable organisations. He feels that spirituality and religion can play a vital role in child development and well-being.

21.05.2008 Pakistan has one of the highest school dropout rates in the world, thanks to corporal punishment. According to an Islamabad-based NGO, beatings at school are considered culturally acceptable to ensure obedience, and legislation banning this practice is hence poorly implemented.

21.05.2008 UNODC and the Delhi Public School Society have come together to empower students through drug awareness. As India confronts growing drug abuse among adolescents, this programme strives to help the young gain information and insight on drug-related issues, and its links to HIV/AIDS.

15.05.2008 An ICT project in Sri Lanka is enabling people with disabilities to avail opportunities and live in an inclusive society. The eNABLE project – with Braille-equipped computers, a software to convert text into speech, a group hearing system and host of other facilities – links them with others at global and national levels.

14.05.2008 The global food price rise is leading to further malnourishment among Indian children, UNICEF warns, as families reduce the number of meals in a day. India already has the worst indicators of child malnutrition in South Asia, along with 40% of the world’s underweight newborns.

13.05.2008 Best practices in preventing and eliminating child labor through education by Child Rights Information Network helps users design and implement capacity-building activities for children in situations of child labour. The book documents experiences of over 80 NGOs and possibilities of change through educational interventions.

09.05.2008 In Nepal, many women and children live with HIV/AIDS passed on to them by their husbands and fathers. UNICEF is helping them by taking care of their treatment and arranging for education of their children.

09.05.2008 The world’s second-largest social networking website has signed an agreement to incorporate safeguards to protect young users from paedophiles and cyber bullying. The site will send warning messages and remove inappropriate content to shield minors from abuse.