Interview: Break the cycle of poverty for children: UNICEF official

The international community should step up its will to break "the cycle of poverty" for children living in poor and conflict-affected regions worldwide so as to give young generations opportunities to thrive, said a UN official.

"Poverty hits children hardest, stripping them of what they need to survive, develop and thrive," Paloma Escudero, director of communications of UNICEF, told Xinhua.

Noting that the poorest children tend to lack adequate nutrition, education and healthcare services, Escudero said these deficiencies trap them into inter-generational cycles of poverty.

"They have fewer opportunities to learn, or their education is interrupted by illness; so they get lower paid jobs as they grow up; so their children are also deprived; and the cycle never ends."

According to World Bank statistics, more than 1 billion people around the world are living below the basic income level of 1.25 U.S. dollars a day, and roughly half of them -- about 569 million -- are 18 years or younger.

In this regard, Escudero said to reach the poorest children, the international community should go beyond the strict definition of poverty to measure such things as access to nutrition, education and social protection systems, among others.

UNICEF reported that nearly half of deaths in children under five are attributable to under-nutrition -- an annual loss of about 3 million young lives.

"But beyond child deaths, under-nutrition is devastating," said Escudero, explaining that poor nutrition in the first 1,000 days of a child's life can lead to irreversible stunted growth which blunts intellect, saps productivity and perpetuates poverty.

"Our figures show that around 161 million children under five years old are stunted -- roughly one in four of the global child population," she said, adding that stunting dramatically weakens their potential to learn, earn a decent income and contribute to the growth of their communities.

Fortunately, there are proven interventions to reduce stunting, including improving women's nutrition, early and exclusive bread-feeding with timely complementary food, supplementing key minerals and vitamins, like iodine, iron, vitamin A and folate, according to Escudero.

Education is another key factor in eliminating poverty for children and helping them to pursue individual development, noted Escudero with an illustration of UNICEF's e-Learning program in Sudan to help out-of-school children across the country.

More than 1.8 million primary school-aged children drop out in Sudan, she noted, as the available basic education system in the country excludes vulnerable children, including former child soldiers, children in remote areas, displaced children and street children.

Escudero elaborated that the e-Learning program, beginning with one subject mathematic for the first three years of primary education, ultimately aims to cover all subjects in grades one to eight, offering children the opportunity to acquire the two certificates for primary education.

"This certificate is a requirement for access to secondary education or for formal employment."

Thanks to relevant efforts made by the international community, the number of primary school-aged children who are out of school has fallen by around 40 percent since 2000, said Escudero, but still there are too many children in the world who do not receive quality education because of gender discrimination, disability and ethnicity.

According to data from UNESCO, 58 million children of primary school age and 63 million children of lower secondary school age were out of school in 2012. Around 36 percent of out-of-school children, or 21 million, live in conflict-affected areas.

"Conflicts and natural disasters also deny children their right to education."

In Nigeria, Escudero said, students and teachers have been deliberately targeted -- with more than 300 schools damaged or destroyed and at least 196 teachers and 314 schoolchildren killed by the end of 2014.

Following the earthquakes in Nepal, an estimated 1 million children have not yet been able to return to school. Urgent action is needed to provide temporary learning spaces and repair damaged school buildings, she noted.

More needs to be done, she said, calling for more global humanitarian funding for education, especially education in emergencies.

"The world cannot afford lost generations in countries like Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, and Syria."

Highlighting that armed conflict is affecting children's well-being, Escudero said thousands of boys and girls are recruited into armed forces across the world, either by governments or rebel groups, to serve as combatants, cooks, porters, or messengers.

"Using children as soldiers is a grave violation of children's rights," she said, while stressing the need of ongoing efforts to release children from armed forces, support services that care their physical and mental health and provide them with life, education as well as vocational skills so as to help them reintegrate into their communities.

More than 100,000 children have been released and reintegrated into their communities since 1998 in over 15 countries. In 2010 alone, UNICEF supported the reintegration of some 11,400 children formerly associated with armed forces or groups along with 28,000 other vulnerable children affected by conflict, according to Escudero.

"UNICEF works on the ground in 190 countries. We see for ourselves every day that children thrive when they have access to quality education, health services and nutritious food, and when they are protected."

"This is how the cycle of poverty can be broken," she said, asking the international community to step up efforts to reduce child poverty. Endi