Childhood Poverty

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Causes and effects of childhood poverty.
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The causes and effect of childhood poverty.

"Millions of children around the world miss out on their childhood as a result of poverty. Poverty deprives them of the capabilities needed to survive, develop and thrive. It prevents them from enjoying equal opportunities. It makes children more vulnerable to exploitation, abuse, violence, discrimination and stigmatization."

(Unicef - The State of the World's Children 2005)

There are approximately 2.2 billion children living in the world today and every second child, on average, is living in poverty. Poverty doesn't just mean a low family income, child poverty is a lack of access to safe drinking water, inadequate health care, including a lack in essential vaccinations, and being at risk of abuse and exploitation.

In the developed world there are approximately nine million people who are malnourished or suffering from poverty induced hunger. This is compared to eight hundred and fifteen million in the developing world. The gap between developed and developing is, in my eyes, clearest when looking at the statistics for poverty, health, education and armed conflict.

Poverty is likely to affect everyone in some form or the other during their life time, the differences however between the poverty experienced by those in the developed world that the poverty that affects so many of the developing world are phenomenal. Poverty during childhood has so many adverse effects to count, lack of schooling, no access to immunisations and health care, malnourishment and the inability to be a child.

Over 140 million children aged between seven and eighteen have never attended any kind of schooling. Sixteen percent of all female children and ten percent of all male children will miss out on schooling entirely. This lack of schooling in turn adds to the already massive health problems faced by children living in poverty. Without education how can we expect the children to experience good health?

It is a fact that young females are more likely to contract HIV/AIDS and this excludes them from society, denies them all chance of an education. The education they need to make them aware of the disease and hopefully safeguard them from it. For if people were aware of the disease, the risks and how to prevent themselves from contracting it, then the problem would be much smaller.

"153 million children under 5 in the developing world are underweight. Worse yet, 11 million children younger than 5 die every year, more than half from hunger-related causes"

(Bread for the World Institute)

Under nourishment negatively affects people's health, productivity, sense of hope and overall well-being. A lack of food can stunt growth, slow thinking, sap energy, hinder foetal development and contribute to mental retardation.

We have seen for ourselves in the developed world that what children eat affects their progress at school. The rigorous analysis of the effects of junk food and snacks of productivity in the class room have shown us, in no uncertain terms, that healthy, wholesome food increases a child's productivity and achievement. Therefore, it can be seen as no surprise that the children in the developing world who do not have access to adequate food perform poorly in school, and are often sick.

Health and education are not the only factors that contribute towards childhood poverty. War and Conflict also has an indirect effect on children of all ages. Children are not the causes of wars, yet they are so often caught up in them, and even forced to become soldiers themselves.

"Armed conflict affects their lives in many ways, and even if they are not killed or injured, they can be orphaned, abducted, raped and left with deep emotional scars and trauma from direct exposure to violence or from dislocation, poverty, or the loss of loved ones"

(Unicef – The State of the world's Children 2005)

Armed conflict can deprive children of education and health care leaving them even more vulnerable to further harm. The loss of a primary caregiver can lead to anxiety and depression and even further psychological effects and trauma.

When a child loses a parent then can be a profound effect on the rest of the family, the parent may have been the primary source of income for the family and subsequently any children can be left to work themselves in order to survive, or may be left with the burden of running a home and looking after any younger siblings whilst the other parent goes out to work.

Of course, armed conflict can, and does, kill more than just one parent. Leaving children orphaned, and in third world countries where provisions for orphaned children are poor, to say the least, the children are forced to grow up very quickly as they are forced to become adults in order to survive.

"About 120,000 African children are participating in armed conflict. Many are as young as seven years old."

(Africa Children's Charter)

Losing a parent also has a knock on effect to education, if a child has to work in order to get food and water then there can be no time for school. A lack of education as stated before can lead to health problems as children are unaware of the dangers of unclean water, and other diseases.

"In many cultures the term 'orphan' carries connotations of misfortune and a loss of social status. In some contexts, children have revealed reduced expectations of themselves, suggesting an acceptance of the lower status they acquire on losing their families."

(Tolfree2004 – Save the Children – Facing the Crisis.)

Everyday thousands of children across the globe wake up hungry and thirsty, and facing a fifteen minute walk before they can get water. Everyday thousands of children will be killed because of malnutrition, disease and armed conflict. Thousands of lives wasted because of a lack of simple provisions that many within the western world take for granted.

Safe water, adequate health care, regular and effective schooling for every child, safety, shelter, and a chance to grow up happily.

Throughout all of this however, it must be remembered that there is still hope. The world is slowly realising the effects of childhood poverty and governments and the general public alike are beginning to make steps to reduce it.

This year has unfolded as a year for Africa, with Live Eight, and Make Poverty History both raising Africa's profile world wide and bringing it's problems into the public eye. No longer can we say that we did not know what was happening.

At the UN General Assembly's Special Session on Children, 8 May 2002 over seven thousand people participated in the largest conference on children in more than a decade. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in his opening statement to the General Assembly, addressed the children of the world. "We, the grown-ups, have failed you deplorably,…" he said, adding, "One in three of you has suffered from malnutrition before you turned five years old. One in four of you has not been immunized against any disease. Almost one in five of you is not attending school…. We, the grown-ups, must reverse this list of failures."

Unicef's 'Say Yes' campaign with it's ten imperatives for children has been taken up world wide. It aims to give every child education, to ensure every child has equal rights, to eradicate childhood poverty and to leave no child out.

So, although there is a very long way to go, with so much we need to achieve there are still thousands of people, organisations and charities working to help alleviate poverty across the globe.

We are the world's children.

We are the victims of exploitation and abuse.

We are street children.

We are the children of war.

We are the victims and orphans of HIV/AIDS.

We are denied good-quality education and health care.

We are victims of political, economic, cultural, religious and environmental discrimination.

We are children whose voices are not being heard: it is time we are taken into account.

We want a world fit for children, because a world fit for us is a world fit for everyone.

Address at the opening of the UN General Assembly's Special Session on Children, 8 May 2002, delivered by Ms. Gabriela Azurduy Arrieta (Bolivia) and Ms. Audrey Cheynut (Monaco), delegates representing the Children's Forum.

It is my belief that we as individuals and also as a county, and as a global community, have the power to make a difference to thousands of people's lives. We can no longer be content to 'sit on the fence' and watch the world pass us by. We can no longer claim to be ignorant of the world's problems and within a democratic society we can not say that we do not have a voice to speak up with.

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AnonymousAnonymousabout 16 years ago
Huh?

You missed half of what you said you'd discuss; causes. "Conflict" is bad, but it's not a cause; WWII did anything but cause poverty here at home. I agree with much of what you say, but your solution, I'm almost betting, involves screwing up (which is what UNICEF and the UN do). Unlike the other commenter with his overpopulation statement (popular myth; India is about as densely populated as New Jersey, and Jersey is, relatively speaking, doing just fine), the cause is simply economic; the system for moving up in the world don't exist. Education, health, food, all of that will come when there is a system to deliver it, and most of the world doesn't have one. Oh, they have governments which direct this, but they only have a clumsy, expensive, one-size-fits-all approach. Everytime there's a budget problem, an uprising, etc, the poor people get screwed. Forget that; what we need to do is ACTUALLY sit on the fence. We can't STOP doing that right now, because we aren't doing it; no, we send billions of dollars in direct aid and billions more in loan relief.

The problem, as has been shown by about every economist who looks at it, is a lack of propert rights; if the government might come take all your food, you'll never try to grow extra to sell at the market. If your homes are burned, your goods taken, your workers killed, you can't afford to try and grow an economy out of subsistence farming. Every country that has these poverty problems needs to, essentially, adopt the US Constitution as originally written.

AnonymousAnonymousover 16 years ago
Annoying propaganda…

Information statements like, “It is a fact that young females are more likely to contract HIV/AIDS…” are deliberately designed to appear to communicate but do no such thing. Young females are more likely to contract HIV/AIDS than what? Giraffes? Quarried slate? Jupiter’s moons? And what whiny guilt trip would be complete without multiple, crocodile-teared references to HIV?

Here’s a thought: quit doing everything possible to prop up regimes responsible for the conditions you allegedly deplore. Stop sending aid that only gets confiscated and used to enrich the bastard warlords. You are doing more than merely perpetuating a bad situation. You encourage others to follow in their footsteps. Face it, you are part of the problem.

AnonymousAnonymousover 16 years ago
Least Erotic Story Ever!!

You know, there IS a "Non-Erotic" category! Yikes!

denniscleedenniscleeover 16 years ago
Thank you for the public service, but...

...it seems to be on the wrong site.

Not that I mind. It's good to be shaken from the erotic fantasy stupor the stories here create from time to time.

I totally agree that everyone is responsible for the world. I tend to see the major problem as overpopulation. The time may come, and none too soon IMO, when couples are required to have a 'license to breed', and not allowed to procreate unless they can meet fiscal and phychological standards imposed by the state.

Sci-fi? I hope not. Fascist? Maybe. Justifiable? Your own data tends to say yes.

AnonymousAnonymousover 16 years ago
Huh?

I think it's time for "the people" to take care of their own children. In the USA children go to bed hungry. Many of them do not go to school regularly nor have a parent to watch over them. Many of them live in dangerous neighborhoods or are exposed to environments that will affect them for for the rest of their lives. Forget about things like clothing or medical care or even hope. Many wait for a kind soul to adopt them, yet celebrities find it publicity worthy to adopt in other countries. We can not continue to help the world when we do not take care of our own.

Writer, I come to Literotica for entertainment, not for moralistic essays that I can get from Bono or my daily news.

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