These days Burma’s military regime is using child soldiers; while on the other hand neglecting the deterioration in education and health-care services.

Child Rights and Community Participation, part 2

(Right to life, education and health care)

* You can read part 1 of this paper at www.tayzathuria.org.uk/bd/2005/12/25/6.htm

Environmental Risks to Children’s Health

Environmental conditions that are harmful to human health are termed “environmental threats” or “environmental risks” and include such factors as air quality, water quality and specific pollutants. Health threats due to behavioural and lifestyle patterns, such as smoking, unbalanced diets, lack of exercise and drug use could also be considered as “environmentally” related, but fall beyond the scope of  all studies. Environmental threats to human health can broadly be divided into “traditional” hazards, stemming largely from a lack of development, and “modern” hazards, arising essentially from unsustainable patterns of development.

 Traditional environmental health hazards remain the primary source of ill-health today for the majority of world population: biologically contaminated water, poor sanitation, indoor smoke, rampant disease vectors such as mosquitoes, deficient food hygiene and unsafe waste disposal are usually associated with poverty and social exclusion. Modern environmental health hazards are closely associated with unsustainable patterns of production and consumption. Typical “modern” environmental problems include, air, water and soil pollution, unsafe use of chemicals, inadequate solid and hazardous waste management, climate change, ozone layer depletion and acid rain due to the use of fossil fuels. In rapidly industrializing countries, modern hazards often compound the traditional health threats.

 The quality of the environment and the care a child receives from parents and family members exerts a powerful influence on whether a child survives his or her first years and subsequently influences his or her physical and mental development processes. Figure 3 shows the top killers of children, with acute respiratory infections, diarrhoeal diseases and malaria accounting for approximately 40 per cent of under-five child death. These three categories of disease are closely related to environmental factors, as shown in the first data column in table 1. Overall, environmental conditions are responsible for 33 per cent of the global burden of disease. As illustrated in table 1, 15.4 per cent of the global burden of disease associated with environmental factors is borne by children under the age of 15. This child component of environmental global burden of disease, measured by the loss of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), represents about two-thirds of the total environment-related DALYs. Taking action to reduce environmental threats could make a major contribution to child health.

Poverty remains a primary root cause

Poverty, widespread in the developing world, is an underlying cause of both the ill-health and under-nourishment of children. It also contributes to the deterioration of natural resources and the environment. In industrialized countries, poverty is found in pockets, typically in urban centres, with similar consequences as in developing countries. Today, with a $30 trillion global economy, 1.2 billion people still struggle to survive on less than $1 a day, at least half of them children Even in the world’s richest countries, one in every six children lives below the national poverty line

 In ecologically fragile areas, for instance in arid or near-desert areas, or in flood-prone places, low-lying regions, remote mountainous terrain, overcrowded urban slums, or refugee camps, natural resources are scarce and environmental conditions arduous. In these places – mostly inhabited by poor people – the toll of environment-related diseases is highest.

 Poverty robs children of the right to grow to their full potential. Childhood is a time of rapid growth and development, when great leaps are made physically, intellectually and emotionally. It is also a time of great vulnerability to environmental risks that can lead to illness, permanent physical and mental problems or death. Poverty exposes children to terrible risks to their health and development. 

The Widening Gap:

The gap between the richest and the poorest of the world has continued to widen and inequality across nations has steadily increased since 1980 serious disparities also exist within countries. Both globally and within most countries, a small proportion of the population consumes a much larger share of natural resources than their poor counterparts. Over-consumption, both in terms of the level and pattern, intensifies poverty and aggravates environmental pollution.  

To reduce poverty requires not only economic growth, according to research, but also disparity reduction measures, such as explicit policy and strong leadership on children’s issues, good governance, proper economic incentives, sufficient investment in basic social services and sound environmental management. Developing countries around the world face the challenge of speeding economic growth while slowing environmental degradation. They, therefore, need help in coordinating and integrating economic and environmental policies to achieve sustainable development, especially in the context of countries that are facing ethnic, political and man made famine situations.

The influence of global trends

Among the trends influencing the phenomenon of poverty in today’s world, globalization and urbanization are perhaps the most significant ones, with the latter having a particularly direct impact on children. In spite of the many new opportunities globalization brings, it has tended to deepen economic disparity within and between nations.  

As the Secretary-General of the United Nations Kofi Annan has pointed out, “Millions are experiencing globalisation not as an opportunity, but as a force of disruption or destruction: as an assault on their material standards of living, or on their traditional way of life. The scale of the impact that globalisation will create on the world’s environment and children’s well-being, and the exact forms such impact will take, are yet to be seen and further evaluated”.  

In the course of the last century, urbanization has led to the concentration of half of humanity in cities around the world. In most developing countries, this means the populations of their main cities far outstrip the capacities of urban infrastructures and basic services (One quarter to one third of all urban households in the world live in absolute poverty according to estimates. In Africa, cities have the highest rate of poverty of all regions: 40 per cent and rising). 

Degraded environmental conditions and other physical hazards are common and inescapable for the poor in densely populated cities, where infectious disease can spread rapidly. It is estimated that at least 220 million people in the cities of the developing world lack access to clean drinking water, 420 million have no access to even simple latrines, and over a billion urban residents are exposed to health-threatening levels of pollution Additionally, pollution from traffic and industries is prevalent to urban settings. Large numbers of adolescents face particular threats with little or no support.

Conclusion:

Encourage and promote national investment in early childhood care, including the improvement of home, school and community environments. The quality of the nutrition, health and environment exerts a powerful influence on whether a child will survive his or her first years. Therefore, improving the local environmental conditions can be effective in reducing childhood malnutrition and disease and can ultimately break the inter-generational transmission of poverty. 

Promote, support and coordinate research, monitoring and assessment with regard to children’s special vulnerabilities, in order to yield the required information for effective decision-making (at each level of competence). The knowledge gaps related to children’s environmental health, education, rights, skills are substantial.  

Coordinate existing efforts and initiatives that specifically address children’s environmental health issues, creating coherent networks for action. Establish active partnerships among the various stakeholder groups: Governments, civil society (i.e.: non-governmental organizations, foundations, private institutions, community groups, universities, research centres, etc.) media and international organizations.

Sam.A.Chelladurai

Executive Director

Anekal Rehabilitation Education And Development (READ) Centre

26.13^th Main, Puttenahlli, JP.Nagar 7^th Phase

Bangalore. 560078. India

Email: readcentre@yahoo.com  www.readcentre.org