Background
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The world’s most populous nation is making great strides toward attaining the Millennium Development Goals. The Government has embarked on a new Five-Year National Development Plan, which calls for greater focus on the rights of children plus new investment in health and education. While China’s booming economy has lifted millions out of poverty, children in poor rural districts continue to lag behind.
Issues facing children in China
- Some 140 million people have abandoned the countryside to seek work in China’s rapidly growing cities. The current hukou residency system often denies migrant children access to free public education and health care, but reforms are underway.
- Maternal and under-five mortality rates have improved dramatically since 1990, but high rates persist in rural areas that lack quality medical care.
- The adult HIV/AIDS prevalence rate is estimated at 0.1 per cent. Almost half of all new infections are occurring among young people.Water and sanitation issues include pollution of vital water sources as a result of industrialization. Less than 10 per cent of rural schools have safe drinking water or adequate sanitation.
- Many of China’s poorest families run small poultry farms; their livelihood is threatened by the looming spectre of avian influenza.
Activities and results for children
- Reforms to the hukou residency system are helping millions of migrant children gain access to basic social services.
- A national programme to reduce maternal and child mortality focuses resources on the 1,000 counties with the highest death rates.
- China is polio-free; measles incidence remains low. Hepatitis B immunization coverage and vitamin A supplementation now reach 84 per cent of the population.
- China has nearly doubled its budget for fighting HIV/AIDS and put in place an ambitious National AIDS Control and Prevention Plan for 2006–2010. Programmes to prevent mother-to-child transmission have been expanded to 271 counties. Prevention is being integrated into the national school curriculum.
- The ‘Unite for Children Unite Against AIDS’ campaign has mailed AIDS awareness information to 900,000 households, reached 30 million young Chinese through its internet component, and sponsored a nationwide public service announcement featuring actor Jackie Chan.
- In September 2006, the Government of China announced that it would provide nine years of free compulsory education to all rural school-aged children by the end of 2007. The central government announced that it would cover 80 per cent of rural students’ tuition and ‘miscellaneous fees’, with provincial governments covering the remaining 20 per cent. However, even with this commitment, there are still other expenses relating to compulsory education that are not covered by the government and must be paid by students and their families.
- A UNICEF girls’ education project has increased enrolment and retention rates for all children in the targeted districts.
- A UNICEF-supported initiative for child-centred learning has trained teachers at 105 pilot schools in some of China's poorest provinces, emphasizing academic effectiveness, safety and protection, gender equality and community involvement.
- The Chinese Ministry of Water Resources has begun a 10-year program to provide clean drinking water to 300 million rural residents, mainly in the country’s western region.
- With UNICEF’s help, China has instituted a National Policy on Early Childhood Care and Development. In provinces where the policy is in effect, enrolment in pre-schools has risen to more than 50 per cent.
- With UNICEF support, China and Vietnam are cooperating to prevent human trafficking across their borders.
