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WAR HAS emerged as a major child-killer in the 1980s. Some 1.5 million children died in conflicts; Five million were turned into refugees and another 12 million were rendered homeless. War caused just five per cent of thecivilian deaths during the First World War; 50 per centin the Second. Today it accounts for 80 per cent. Themajority of victims were women and children.
Lack of sanitation claims many young lives in theSouth. Some 82 per cent of the urban population haveaccess to water and 72 per cent to sanitation. Rural figures are 63 per cent and 49 per cent, respectively.(Source: UNEP's State of the World's Environment,1991.) UNICEF claims that 80 per cent of the immunisation target in 1he developing world is being met, whichhas saved three million children every year, Of this, 1.9million have been saved from measles, 0.7 million fromneo-natal tetanus, 0.6 million from whooping cough and0.4 million from polio. Primary health care and education accounted for less than 15 per cent of total centralgovernment spending.
Interestingly, in USA, despite a 25 per cent rise in GNP, the number of poor children increased in the 1980s. And its not just Black children who are affected. Of USA's 12 million poor children, the majority are estimated to be white. Most live outside the big cities (Source: State of the World's Children, 1992).