Key challenges for children
Child Health: Child mortality rates in Azerbaijan remain high. Although the latest (2006) figures show a two-fold decrease in infant and under-five mortality rates since 2001, this is still considerably higher than in the developed world. In 2007 under-five mortality was estimated at 39.3 per, while infant mortality was 34.4 per 1,000 live births.[1] However, estimates on child mortality in Azerbaijan are complicated by a large discrepancy between country statistics and international data because different agencies are using different definitions and methods of calculation, and in some cases different numbers of population. According to the government, infant mortality was 10 per 1000 live births in 2006[2] . One of the major causes for discrepancy is that the WHO live birth definition is not still fully utilized in Azerbaijan to replace the former Soviet Union definition. Some 44 per cent of all infant deaths occur within the first month of life, of which 91 per cent occur within the first week after delivery[3]. Most of these deaths are completely preventable. Many occur at home, where too many women (11 per cent)[4] give birth without a healthcare professional in attendance to deal with complications. But many also occur in health facilities still following outdated care practices from before Azerbaijan's independence in 1991. Nutrition: One-quarter of all children under five are stunted (too short for their age), which is the classic indicator of long-term under nutrition.[5] There are many possible reasons for this, including childhood illnesses and poverty, but one of the most important is that mothers do not know how to properly feed their children. Exclusive breastfeeding rates in Azerbaijan are extremely low: only 12 per cent of babies are given nothing but their mother's milk for the first six months of life, which is the best way to ensure they get all essential nutrients and are protected from childhood illnesses.[6] Strengthening monitoring in salt production sites is a big challenge for achieving full and sustainable elimination of iodine deficiency disorders. One of the conditions for nominating a country as Iodine Deficiency Free is consumption of iodized salt by over 90% of households. This is not the case in Azerbaijan now, although significant progress has been made towards the target over the last decade, and therefore, there is still far more to do for irreversible and sustainable elimination of iodine deficiency disorders in the country. Given the high rates of anaemia among children and mothers, addressing its major causes is a pending issue for the country. HIV/AIDS: There is no general HIV epidemic in Azerbaijan and the number of people living with HIV is small. Just about 2,000 HIV-positive people were registered with the National AIDS Centre as of April 2009, and the country has an HIV prevalence rate of below 0.2%. Although national-level rates are low, HIV prevalence is far higher among certain high-risk groups. In 2004, the World Health Organisation conducted research among injecting drug users and commercial sex workers in Baku. They found HIV rates of 24 per cent among street-based injecting drug users and 11 per cent among street-based sex workers.[7] The results of a recent nationwide bio-behavioural survey, which was conducted, with the assistance of the UN Theme group led by UNICEF and the Global Fund, will help update these data and realise the situation among all most at risk groups, including street children, men who have sex with men and prisoners, for further programming in this area. There is widespread ignorance about what HIV is and how to prevent it, particularly among young people. Nearly two-thirds of those aged 15-19 say they have never heard of AIDS:[8] only one out of every twenty young people aged 15-24 has comprehensive knowledge of HIV with no big difference between men and women.[9] Negative attitudes towards those living with HIV are commonplace. In a survey carried out in 2006 to test people's reactions, a mere 4 per cent of women and 1 per cent of men expressed no discriminatory opinions toward the HIV-positive.[10]
Avian influenza: Like HIV, the avian influenza virus has the potential to devastate children's lives in Azerbaijan. Six people already died in the 2006 outbreak and similar viruses in the past killed millions of people worldwide. Unless we prepare as fully as we can, they may do so again. Child Protection: Improving the child protection mechanism in the Republic of Azerbaijan is still a challenge ahead for the government. The issue is already on the political agenda and reached its momentum in 2007. However, recent studies and situation analysis proved that child rights are still being violated. Therefore, UNICEF’s assistance to the government’s child protection reform seems to be of high importance for the wellbeing of Azerbaijani children. There is still lack of the government’s strong internal mechanisms for ensuring the coordination and implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, as well as reporting on this Convention. About 30% of 14,389 children in the state care system stay permanently. The main reasons for placing children in the institutions are poverty (47%) and incomplete family (28%). There are problems with early marriage, particularly in the south of the country. There are perhaps 2,000 street children and more than 48,000 children living with disabilities, and some children are vulnerable to trafficking, are refugees and are involved in child labour.[11] At present, social services are very limited. There are some cash transfers for the poorest families (although these are not always easy to access) and there are institutions. The country has no qualified cadre of social workers and responsibility for children is spread across a bewildering array of ministries and local-level commissions, making it very hard for children or families to know where to go when they need help, such as in cases of abuse or family crisis, and also reducing the ability of the government to allocate resources in a coordinated and efficient way. There is no specialized system of juvenile justice established in Azerbaijan yet. In its Concluding Observations in January 2006, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child recommended that Azerbaijan bring its system of juvenile justice fully into compliance with UN standards. From the moment of arrest, children are often treated just like adults. They face the same judges and police in the same courts. Their education is abandoned during what can be lengthy periods of remand. There are few state provisions to take account of the vulnerability or special needs of children, and those that do exist are not implemented. Mines still continue to pose menace: although Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire in 1994, more than 500,000 people are at risk of injury or death from mines along the border of the Nagorno-Karabakh region.[12] UNICEF advocates for Azerbaijan’s ratification of the Ottawa Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction. Education: Since independence, the school system in Azerbaijan has been struggling to pull itself into the 21st century. It is an uphill struggle, but one that has to be made in order to prepare the latest generation of students for a new world, a new economy and new opportunities. It is a struggle that will involve fundamental change and will have to see school doors open wide to new ideas while old ways of teaching go out of the classroom window. Considering the current state of the education system, this radical change is not going to be easy. Although most children of primary school age are going to class,[13] there are serious doubts over how much they are actually learning when they get there. The Soviet era has left an educational legacy that is badly outdated and ill-suited to the needs of today's children, or to the fulfilment of their rights to education and to full participation. The latest data show that only 9 per cent of children attend any form of pre-school, and in rural areas the figure is a derisory 2 per cent.[14] What's worse, the situation has actually been deteriorating. This decline is largely the result of one simple fact: there aren't enough kindergartens. Most parents say they think pre-school is important and they could afford to send their children to study if there were a kindergarten available. But pre-schools, already in short supply, have been disappearing rapidly as a result of a government privatisation programme, which has seen kindergartens closed and reopened as something more profitable. [1] UN Interagency Group for Child Mortality Estimation. [2] http://www.azstat.org/statinfo/demoqraphic/en/032.shtml#s5 [3] TransMONEE database - associated with the UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre’s MONEE project. The TransMONEE database captures a vast range of data relevant to the social and economic situation and well-being of children, young people and women in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CEE/CIS). [4] Demographic and Health Survey. Azerbaijan. 2006. [5] Ibid [6] Ibid. [7] WHO EURO. HIV surveillance study among most at risk groups in Azerbaijan, Moldova and Russian Federation. 2004. [8] Demographic and Health Survey. Azerbaijan.2006. [9] Ibid. [10] Ibid. [11] UNICEF. The Child Protection System in Azerbaijan: Situation Analysis. 2005. [12] Azerbaijan National Agency for Mine Action. http://www.anama.baku.az/ [13] UNESCO.EFA Global Report. 2007. [14] Demographic and Health Survey. Azerbaijan. 2006.
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