War's toll on children

Angola's unending civil war continues to take a terrible toll among the country's civilian population, particularly its children. But despite the scale of the humanitarian needs, UNICEF received only 37 percent of the funding requested in its US $21.7 million 2000 emergency appeal, the agency said in a donor update released last week. Last year, the conflict in Angola led to an increased flow of 450,000 displaced persons from the countryside to provincial towns. Among the displaced, the infant and under-five mortality rate was 236 and 395 per 1,000 live births respectively, "much worse than the already catastrophic estimated national infant and under five mortality rates (166 and 292 per 1,000 live births respectively)," UNICEF said. Less than three percent of the 2000 state budget was allocated to the ministry of health, despite the deterioration of the country's entire health infrastructure. "Angola witnessed no improvement in the long term health and nutritional status of its children and women," the update said. Malaria remains the primary cause of child mortality, and routine immunization coverage of children under-one fell in comparison to 1999. Although there was a decrease in pockets of global acute malnutrition among under-five children from 30 percent in mid-1999 to 10 percent by late 2000, "malnutrition is still the underlying factor for morbidity and mortality of children and women". According to UNICEF, the food security situation remains "very fragile, and the children nutritional status is expected to worsen until the next main harvest in April 2001". Less than 50 percent of school-age children in Angola are enrolled in school. "For those enrolled, the quality of education in the regular schooling system remains low, mainly due to weak infrastructures, poor qualification of teachers, low salaries, and unavailability of text books," the donor update said. Meanwhile, Angola needs at least US $200 million to assist internally displaced persons (IDPs) the official news agency Angop said on Sunday. Angolan Social Welfare Minister Albino Malungo was quoted as saying that his government hoped the international community could contribute about US $170 million to secure assistance and resettlement of some 1.4 million IDPs in Angola. Malungo added that the Angolan government had already contributed US $39.5 million to help the displaced.