UNICEF warns that big cities neglect their children

The expansion of urbanization projects is inevitable. In the years ahead, most Malagasy children will grow up in cities, large or small, rather than in rural areas, according to the UNICEF’s ​​report. Children born in the city already represent 60% of the growth of urban population where they are faced with major health risks due to the inadequacy of drinking water supply, sanitation and solid waste disposal.

“For us, the traditional image of poverty is a child growing up in a rural village,” said the Director General of UNICEF, Anthony Lake. But today, a growing number of children living in slums and shanty towns are among the most disadvantaged and vulnerable people. These children are deprived of basic services and the right to develop their personality. UNICEF warns in its report called “The Situation of the World’s Children 2012: Children in an urban world ” (SOWC) that hundreds of millions of children living in cities due to rapid urbanization are being excluded from basic social services.

In Madagascar, according to the report’s data, 30% of the population is urban. The average annual rate of increase of urban population is 4.2%. Investments in infrastructure cannot meet the urban population growth. The challenges that urban population, children in particular, has to face are enormous. Among these are the lack of decent and safe housing and the lack of adequate infrastructures such as drinking water systems and sanitation. Less than half of households have access to water facilities in Madagascar and only 15% of urban households use adequate sanitation.
In the list of countries where the mortality rates of children under 5 are the highest, Madagascar is ranked 48th out of 193 countries: 62 children out of 1000 aged under 5 die each year (SOWC 2012).