Number of street children growing

Save the Children Fund (SCF) has announced a new area of work with street children and other vulnerable children in Burundi. In an emergency update for October, SCF said particular focus would be placed on how HIV/AIDS impacted on livelihoods and on access to social services. It said it had also launched an emergency response strategy to cope with the potential movement of internally displaced people and refugees. Key issues affecting children in Burundi include separation from their families, the spread of HIV/AIDS, increasing numbers of street children and adequate healthcare. SCF noted that almost 18 percent of children die before their fifth birthday.