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Go out into the world where your heart calls you. The blessings will come, I promise you that. I wish for you the insight to recognize the blessings as such, and sometimes it's hard. But you'll know it's a blessing if you are enriched and transformed by the experience. So be ready. There are great souls and teachers everywhere. It's your job to recognize them. For more inspirational quotes, |
Quick FactsORPHANS143 million children in the developing world are orphans, meaning they have lost one or both parents.[1] 15 million children have already lost their parents to HIV/AIDS; by 2010, there will be 20 million orphans from HIV/AIDS.[2] 80 percent of those children who have lost a parent to HIV/AIDS in the developing world live in sub-Saharan Africa.[3] More than 90 percent of all orphans in sub-Saharan Africa are cared for by extended families, not orphanages.[4] Orphans throughout the world face many challenges-malnutrition, starvation, abuse, disease, loss of family property, decreased school attendance, and death.[5] HEALTH2 million children die from pneumonia each year, making it the leading cause of death in children throughout the world, more than AIDS, Malaria, and measles combined.[6] 2.5 million children (under age 5) died from vaccine-preventable deaths in 2002; 76 percent of these occurred in Africa and Southeast Asia.[7] 2.3 million children under age 15 are living with HIV; every day more than 1400 are newly infected, even though mother-to-child transmission is 98% to 99% preventable when anti-retroviral treatment is taken during pregnancy. [8] Malaria kills one child in Africa every 30 seconds.[9] 1 in 5 deaths in children under age 5 in Africa are from Malaria. 9.7 million children died before reaching their 5th birthdays in 2006, mostly from preventable causes such as pneumonia, diarrhoea, malaria and neonatal causes of death.[10] NUTRITION146 million children in the developing world, 27 percent, are underweight.[11] In South Asia, 46 percent of all children under 5 are underweight[12] Malnutrition, a deficit of essential nutrients, contributes to more than 50 percent of all child deaths in the developing world.[1] Undernutrition-insufficient caloric intake-contributes to 53 percent of all deaths in children 5 and under.[2] EDUCATION120 million primary school-aged children, primarily girls, are not in school.[3] Approximately 700,000 new cases of HIV can be prevented each year, if all children receive a complete primary education.[4] CHILDREN IN CONFLICT20 million children have been forced to flee their homes because of conflict and human rights violations; more than 1 million of these have be orphaned or separated from their families.[5] Approximately 300,000 children-boys and girls under the age of 18-are involved in conflicts around the world.[6] CHILD ABUSE40 million children under age 15 suffer from abuse and neglect and require health and social care.[7] Millions of children are being trafficked, forced into debt bondage or other forms of slavery, and forced into prostitution and/or pornography:
INFORMATION COMPLIED BY GLOBAL ACTION FOR CHILDRENFor more information on the plight of orphans and vulnerable children in the developing world, please visit www.globalactionforchildren.org.
[1] The World Health Organization |
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FINCA International provides financial services to the world's lowest-income entrepreneurs. |
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