Children's health, welfare gap widening

The social gap among the world's children has widened, meaning more children are missing out on essential medical treatment and education.

UNICEF announced this in a report released on Thursday -- on the eve of the 20th anniversary of the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child.

The report says that in developing countries, the body weight of 148 million children under the age of 5 is far below average due to lack of nourishment. It also says the child mortality rate in poor countries is almost double that of the rich nations.

The report warns that the disparity is dramatically increasing between cities and villages, as well as between majority and minority races.

On the plus side, children's health and education overall has improved worldwide in the last 20 years. The number of child deaths under age 5 declined to nearly 9 million last year from over 12.5 million in 1990.

UNICEF has called on all countries to strengthen measures over the next 20 years to further improve environments for their children.

2009/11/20 17:44(JST)
(JST: UTC+9hrs.)