聯合國兒童基金會《兒童進展報告》 全球數百萬青少年發展受壓 非洲情況尤其嚴峻
紐約／香港，2012年4月24日——過去20年，教育及公共衞生項目上的進步，改善了不少青少年的生活。但根據聯合國兒童基金會（UNICEF）最新發表的《兒童進展報告：青少年報告》（Progress for Children: A report card on adolescents）指，在世界各地，仍有眾多青少年的需要仍然備受忽略，促使每年多逾100萬名青少年喪生、數以千萬計的青少年失學。 舉例說，報告指出，縱觀全球，撒哈拉以南的非洲地區是現今青少年發展最惡劣的地區。區內青少年人口不斷增長，預計到2050年，該區將成為全球青少年人口最高的地方。然而，現時當地兒童的小學畢業率僅得五成，青年就業率亦屬偏低。 《兒童進展報告：青少年報告》亦警告，全球合共多達12億名青少年（根[...]
![Tsahara Saidou holds her two-year-old son, Moctar, who is suffering from severe acute malnutrition, as they return to their home village of Garin Kouroun, Maradi Region. They have just visited the UNICEF-supported health centre in the village of Sarkin Yamma Saboua, approximately six kilometres from Garin Kouroun, in Madarounfa Department. [#5 IN SEQUENCE OF FIVE]
In March 2012 in Niger, under-five mortality rates remain among the highest in the world, the result of preventable or treatable conditions, including malnutrition. The country is one of eight in the Sahel region also including Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and the northern parts of Cameroon, Nigeria and Senegal facing a nutrition crisis that now affects over 10 million people. Unless reached with appropriate treatment and prevention programmes, more than 1 million under-five children are at risk of dying from nutrition-related illnesses. The current crisis is the result of repeated drought-related food shortages, from which people have insufficient time to recover before being again affected. In turn, these shocks are exacerbated by chronic stunting, high rates of poverty and illiteracy and inadequate social infrastructure, including for basic child and maternal care. In Niger, over 331,000 under-five children are at risk of becoming severely malnourished, while cases of moderate acute malnutrition are expected to exceed 689,000. Over 5.4 million people some 35 per cent of the countrys population remain food insecure. Stunting prevalence is above 50 per cent; over 62 per cent of the population lives in poverty, and the adult literacy rate is a low 20 per cent only 12.3 per cent for women. UNICEF requires US$120 million to fund its Sahel emergency response in 2012, of which only 32 per cent has been received to date. The European Union (EU) is one of the largest international donors to UNICEF nutrition programmes in the Sahel and in other regions. In Niger, working with the Government and other partners, UNICEF is currently assisting over 37,000 under-five children suffering from severe acute malnutrition, with plans to reach 394,000. Support includes the provision of ready-to-use therapeutic food (a high-protein, high-energy peanut-based packaged paste for malnourished children that does not require cooking or handling). Plans are also underway to provide blanket feeding support for an additional 530,000 children aged 623 months and for 97,000 pregnant or lactating women during the lean season from April through October when food scarcity is greatest. UNICEF is also assisting other health, water, sanitation and hygiene, education and child protection initiatives.](https://www.unicef.org.hk/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/31.jpg)