children

Save the Children has warned that half-a-billion children will be stunted over the next 15 years, if child malnutrition is tackled head-on.

Save the Children’s regional health and HIV advisor, David Sanders, points out that, “The rising of food prices is the main cause of malnutrition.”

Sanders maintains that the government must prioritise nutrition and outline the clear lines of responsibility.

Refugee children in South Africa asked for identity documents and permits they don’t have are denied enrolment in public schools, according to a report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

The report, which focuses on refugee education in country, highlights how many refugee children in the country are facing limited access to education, particularly at secondary levels and for those living in urban areas.

The report also highlights how it seems to be more difficult in urban areas than in rural areas close to refugee camps.

The Non-Governmental Coordinating Council (NGOCC) has joined calls for people who defile children to be slapped with life imprisonment.

NGOCC board chairperson, Beatrice Grillo, points out that the perpetrators, especially those who defiled or raped babies should immediately be locked up for life with hard labour.

She argues that if an offender is sentenced to 15 years for defiling a baby, after serving it, that offender would be released from prison with a possibility of committing the same offence again.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says that measles epidemic has killed 1 145 children and affected 115 600 between January and June 2011 in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

In a press statement, OCHA states that the situation has led to the vaccination of 3.1 million children across the country’s five provinces.

The vaccination campaign started in May 2011 after the humanitarian NGO, Medecins Sans Frontiers, criticised the likes of World Health Organisation of not responding to the epidemic.

Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe says the most effective way of eradicating poverty is by encouraging young people to go to school and learn skills.

Motlanthe, who was visiting Phillipstown near De Aar in the Northern Cape as part of his assessment of the War on Poverty programme, says a number of young people in the area who dropped out of school, had been identified and said when it came to education, immediate intervention is needed.

Child Welfare South Africa (CWSA) says government should stop dragging its feet in implementing anti-human trafficking legislation.
 
The organisation launched an initiative in partnership with the Body Shop, to pressure government to fast-track the laws.
 
CWSA spokesperson, Ashley Theron, says the problem is more prevalent than people realise, adding that, “The numbers that are given through are often not a true reflection of the problems that are out there.”