PO BAG 1: UNICEF

31 October 2016

2 billion children breathe toxic air worldwide, UNICEF says

In this photo taken Friday, Oct. 28, 2016, an Indian national flag flies as a thin layer of smog envelops the city skyline before Diwali festival in New Delhi, India. As north Indian cities enter the season of high air pollution, a new report is warning about the dangers to children.

As Indians awoke Monday to smoke-filled skies from a weekend of festival fireworks, New Delhi's worst season for air pollution began — with dire consequences.

A new report from UNICEF says about a third of the 2 billion children in the world who are breathing toxic air live in northern India and neighboring countries, risking serious health effects including damage to their lungs, brains and other organs. Of that global total, 300 million kids are exposed to pollution levels more than six times higher than standards set by the World Health Organization, including 220 million in South Asia.

23 June 2015

Report: economic growth failing to help world's poorest kids

A homeless girl sits on a footpath as commuters walk past in New Delhi, India, Tuesday, June 23, 2015. A new report by UNICEF warns that economic growth is still failing to help millions of the world’s poorest children. In India, there are countless children living with grinding poverty, sleeping on sidewalks, begging at traffic intersections and relying on government-run lunch programs that often provide their only full meal for the day.

Global resolve to rescue impoverished children from lives of squalor, disease and hunger has fallen short, with economic development in many countries still leaving millions of the most vulnerable behind, according to a UNICEF report released Tuesday.