'Global Child' likely to be Asian, risks poverty, ill-health

'Global Child' likely to be Asian, risks poverty, ill-health

Agencies, Johannesburg, South Africa

The child of the new millennium is likely to be Asian and faces a
major risk of starting life without proper nutrition, sanitation
or vaccination against disease, the United Nations Children Fund
Unicef said here on Sunday.

The statistical portrait of the "Global Child," unveiled at
the Earth Summit, found that of every 100 children born in 2000,
53 were born in Asia.

India accounted for 19 of the births and China 15. Nineteen
were born in sub-Saharan Africa, but only seven in the rich
industrialized world.

"If social conditions remain unchanged (...), 19 (of the 100)
will have no access to clean drinking water, and 40 will live
without adequate sanitation," Unicef said.

Thirty will suffer from malnutrition in their first five years
of life, and more than a quarter will not be immunized against
any disease.

As for education, on present trends 17 percent of children
born in 2000 will never go to school, and of those who do get
some education, a quarter will leave to enter the workforce by
the time they are 11.

A child born in 2000 has a statistical life expectancy of 63
years.

But the variation is huge, depending on where he or she had
the luck to be born.

"In the industrialized world, they will live 78 years. In the
45 countries most affected by HIV/AIDS, their average life
expectancy is 58 years.

"In Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Zambia and Zimbabwe,
life expectancy is less than 43 years."

There are 2.1 billion in the world today, accounting for 36
percent of the total population. Some 132 million children are
born each year, but one in 12 dies before the age of five.

Officials at the World Summit expressed optimism on Sunday
that agreement could be reached on a final action plan addressing
contentious issues involving climate change, world trade and
enriching the world's poor.

"We have absolutely no choice. We must deliver," Canadian
Prime Minister Jean Chretien said.

Negotiators who worked until 3 a.m. on Sunday were back in
closed-door meetings a few hours later to settle differences over
the conference's action plan before world leaders arrive Monday.

Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and South African
President Thabo Mbeki prepared on Sunday to travel to the
Sterkfontein Caves, an archaeological site where a fossil of a
3.5 million year old human ancestor was discovered.

The 10-day conference that started last Monday hoped to reach
concrete agreements to bring development to poor countries while
reaching new commitments to protect the environment.

"We are progressing, we are taking up issues one by one ...
and we are moving forward," said Danish Environment Minister Hans
Christian Schmidt, whose country holds the EU presidency.

Negotiators agreed Saturday evening to how the summit would
address the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, which the United
States has refused to sign, diplomats said.

The agreed upon text says nations that have ratified Kyoto
"strongly urge" states that have not done so to ratify it in "a
timely manner."