Not only in Africa! From Russia to Argentina !
Date: Thu, 22 Jul 1999 Reply-To: rob at essential.org From: Robert Weissman <rob at essential.org> To: Multiple recipients of list STOP-IMF <stop-imf at essential.org> Subject: Debt killing kids in Africa
>From the BBC:
Thursday, July 22, 1999 Published at 13:13 GMT 14:13 UK
Debt 'killing children'
Children's health is suffering as governments struggle to pay debts
Mortality rates among mothers and children are rising as a result of the crippling
cost of debt in the world's poorest countries, says a United Nations report.
Unicef says women and children are bearing the brunt
of the debt crisis, especially in Africa, where many
governments are diverting resources away from health
and education.
As a result, hundreds of millions of people are suffering
from ill health, and children are being condemned to a
life without schooling, says the annual Progress of
Nations report.
The report draws up a league table of
countries where children are most at risk.
Angola comes out as as the worst country
for a child to live in.
It also assesses the progress being made in
the battle against polio, and the impact of
Aids on children.
Following Angola, the organisation ranks
Sierra Leone, Afghanistan and Somalia as
the next most dangerous places to grow
up.
In Angola, the continuing civil war, the
virtual collapse of the health system, a
lack of basic education and nationwide
food shortages combine to make it the
worst place for children.
See: Angola - no place for a child
The quality of life indicators chosen by
Unicef are
Mortality rates for under-fives
The percentage of underweight
children
Primary school attendance
Risk from armed conflict
The prevalence of Aids.
Not surprisingly, advanced western countries do best.
New call for debt relief
The UN children's organisation calls for the outright cancellation of all debt.
It says the present scheme to offer debt
relief to the world's 41 poorest and most
heavily-indebted countries is too rigid and
too slow.
Countries have to wait six years before
becoming eligible and so far only three -
Uganda, Bolivia and Guyana - have
benefited.
Its executive director, Carole Bellamy,
says sub-Saharan Africa is the worst
affected.
"Sub-Saharan Africa alone is caught in a
debt trap. The governments spend more on
servicing their more than $300bn debt
than on the health and education of their
children "
Far from rewarding irresponsibility, Unicef believes debt relief is an essential
weapon in the fight against poverty.
Without it, the agency says, the goal of cutting world poverty by half by 2015 is
unattainable.