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Over 500,000 children in need of special protection

Map of Chad IRIN
The WFP service flies from N'djamena to Abeche
    N’DJAMENA

    Kenya has more than 500,000 children in need of special protection, and that number is rising steadily as the effects of HIV/AIDS become increasingly evident, according to figures from UNICEF and the Kenyan government.

    "The figures have multiplied to an unimaginable degree" in recent years, a spokeswoman for the Kenyan Ministry of Home Affairs told IRIN on Wednesday. There is a wide definition of "children in need of special protection", she said, with 15 categories covering virtually all children in difficult circumstances - whether they are street children, involved in
    child labour, suffering from poverty, family breakdown or the effects of HIV/AIDS.

    An increasingly large number of Kenya's children are in need of protection because of the direct and indirect effects of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, a UNICEF spokesman confirmed to IRIN. Not only have many been infected themselves, but the disease has had a negative impact on many thousands of children made homeless, left in poverty or pushed into work. Already, 600,000 children have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS, according to UNICEF estimates.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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