More must be done for children's health, conference told

One in five African children die before they reach their fifth birthday, a conference in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa heard on Tuesday. Experts warned that many of the children die simply because of the poor environment they are forced to live in. The alarming statistic was spelt out to mark World Health Day under the theme 'Healthy Environment for Children'. Angela Benson, who heads the World Health Organisation in Ethiopia, told delegates that one third of global diseases were caused by poor environments. “Diseases linked to unhealthy and unsafe environments in homes, schools, and neighbourhoods kill millions of children each year,” she noted. She added that over 70 percent of childhood deaths in Africa were due to six causes - acute respiratory infection, diarrhoea, measles, malaria, HIV infections and malnutrition. Dr Demissie Tadesse, Ethiopia's deputy health minister, said safeguarding a child’s environment was fundamental to ensuring they lived healthy lives. But, he said, in Ethiopia 70 percent of the population did not have access to clean water and four fifths of the population had no access to safe sanitation. Just half of girls in the country were enrolled in primary schools, while vaccinations reached around half of the population.