HIV One of Risks Facing Millions of Children Worldwide Who Are Not Registered at Birth, UNICEF Report Says

HIV is one of the many risks facing millions of children worldwide who are not registered at birth, according to UNICEF's State of the World's Children 2006 report, which was released on Wednesday, the Toronto Star reports (Ward, Toronto Star, 12/14). The report, titled "Excluded and Invisible," says about 50 million children around the world are not registered at birth, and that number is increasing (Lovell, Reuters, 12/14). Because of factors such as war; corrupt governments; poverty; and religious, ethnic and gender discrimination, children are not registered and therefore grow up "outside society from their infancy," the Star reports (Toronto Star, 12/14). Such children become "invisible" to their communities, governments and the world at large, so they do not receive access to schooling and health care, the report says (BBC News, 12/14). "[L]iterally millions of kids are dying silently every year of preventable diseases" such as HIV/AIDS, Nigel Fisher, president of UNICEF Canada, said (Toronto Star, 12/14). Many children who have lost parents to AIDS also become "invisible" because they are rejected by their communities, and many live on the streets, according to Reuters (Reuters, 12/14). Fisher said that these problems keep the children beyond the reach of the aid of donor countries, adding that foreign donors are "familiar with many visible catastrophes such as the tsunami, which gets world attention," but for the millions of children dying annually, "every day is like a tsunami" (Toronto Star, 12/14). UNICEF Executive Director Ann Veneman said with enough political will it is possible to reach vulnerable children, as well as achieve the U.N. Millennium Development Goals, which include curbing the spread of HIV/AIDS (AFP/Khaleej Times, 12/14).

Child Survival Report
In related news, a report released on Tuesday finds that increased access to effective, low-cost treatments could save the lives of 30 million children over the next 10 years from diseases such as malaria, HIV/AIDS, measles and pneumonia, the Associated Press reports. "Tracking Progress in Child Survival" was produced by a team of child survival experts, UNICEF and the World Health Organization and is the first in a series of reports to be updated every two years (Ross, Associated Press, 12/13). The report monitored child survival rates in the 60 countries where 94% of the 10.5 million childhood deaths occur annually. It finds that while Bangladesh, Brazil, Egypt, Indonesia, Mexico, Nepal and the Philippines are on track to reach MDG child survival targets, 34 other countries are "struggling" to make improvements in child survival and an additional 19 nations are in a "state of urgent crisis," Reuters reports (Reaney, Reuters, 12/13). The experts said there are 20 low-cost solutions that will increase child survival rates, including using insecticide-treated nets to prevent malaria; breastfeeding; improving nutrition; and increasing access to drugs, antibiotics and vaccinations. Governments also should ensure that HIV-positive women are given antiretroviral drugs to prevent mother-to-child transmission of the virus, the report says (Associated Press, 12/13).