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February 10, 2003

INTERNATIONAL IMMUNIZATION NEWS

"Millions of Children Live in Hazardous Squalor in Cities: UNICEF" Agence France Presse (www.afp.com/english/home) (02/07/03)

UNICEF reports that infant mortality rates among those living in urban squalor and areas where there is no functioning waste management and health care system can reach as high as 100 and 200 per 1,000 babies born.  Most of the children in these developing countries who do survive spend their days crawling among the filth and trash piles looking for resalable junk and sleep in the street at night, putting them at risk for violence and abuse.  These children rarely, if ever, receive even partial immunization from vaccine-preventable diseases, UNICEF added.  The study also noted how some reporting does not always reflect the true killer among children in these situations--for instance, diarrhea caused by contaminated water and food is more prevalent a killer than noted, because in combination with malnutrition, the child may contract also pneumonia or measles, and it is that secondary disease that is more often recorded as the cause of death.

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