Abuse and Exploitation Do Lasting
Damage to Healthy Development
GENEVA / NEW YORK, 4 April 2003 - As the
world prepares to mark World Health Day this Monday
UNICEF said today that tens of millions of children
suffer long-term damage to their health every year from
exploitation, abuse, and violence - hazards that are
often overlooked in public health planning.
"A well-nourished child who is beaten
at home is not a healthy child," said Carol Bellamy,
Executive Director of UNICEF. "A child who is sexually
abused at school is not a healthy child. An immunized
child who is forced into hazardous child labour is not
a healthy child. Such abuse and exploitation has huge
implications for the long-term health and development
of millions of children."
Noting that the theme for World Health
Day on April 7 is "Healthy Environments for Children,"
Bellamy said governments and communities had to address
both the physical environment in which children spend
their days, and the "protective" environment
that is essential to keeping every child out of harm's
way.
UNICEF emphasized that the fundamental
environmental health risks facing children include poor
sanitation, unclean water, inadequate hygiene, pollution,
and other environmental hazards that can lead to fatal
diseases such as malaria, diarrhoea and acute respiratory
infection.
But UNICEF said that a "protective
environment" for children is just as crucial to
their health and development, calling violence, abuse
and exploitation "the silent dangers" that
lurk in every society in the world.
"Children have the right to an environment
that safeguards them not only against disease, but against
ill-treatment," Bellamy said.
UNICEF said a protective environment is
one in which communities and families are committed
to upholding child rights; in which laws are in place
to protect children and prosecute offenders; in which
laws are consistently enforced; in which government
devotes resources to eliminating exploitation of children;
in which the media highlights the issues and challenges
discriminatory attitudes; and in which adults who spend
time with children - parents, teachers, religious leaders,
and others - are able to recognize the signs of abuse
and respond accordingly.
UNICEF pointed out that tens of millions
of children suffer from severe abuse and violence each
year:
Hazards in School and at Play
Bellamy said that children also face serious
environmental health hazards in the very places they
are thought to be most safe: the school and the community.
She pointed out that most schools in the
developing world lack basic sanitary facilities and
sources of potable water. In such conditions, children
are easily infected with illnesses such as diarrhoea
and acute respiratory infections. About 1.5 million
children die from diarrhoea each year.
The same conditions affect the environments
where children play. Open sewage, unsafe disposal of
domestic and industrial waste, and pollution of sources
of water supply expose children to a host of dangers
that may have immediate and long-term effects on their
health and development.
Globally, nearly 11 million children die
before their fifth birthday, overwhelmingly from causes
that are preventable and treatable.
UNICEF advocates integrated approaches
that combine interventions in health care and nutrition
for children and mothers; clean water and proper sanitation;
psychosocial care and early learning; and protection
from violence, abuse and neglect.
"Children must have every chance to survive and
thrive," said Bellamy. "The risks that jeopardize
the health and well-being of children must not be limited
to diseases and infections. Children must live in a
protective environment that fortifies them against exploitation
in the same way that good health and nutrition fortify
them against disease."
* * *
For further information, please contact:
Lynn
Geldof, UNICEF Media, Geneva: (41-79) 909-5531
Mohammad Jalloh,
UNICEF Media, New York: (1-212) 326-7516
