Ethiopia's Children - 2

Child Health
Like many third world countries, Ethiopia suffers from poor health and care systems. Poverty deprives children in their early years of adequate food, clean water, and medicines, meaning many of them die or become very sickly as they grow up.

It is a terrible fact, but 1 in every 20 children born in a live birth dies before the age of 1 month old. 1 out of 10 die before their 1 st birthday, and 1 out of 6 die before reaching their 5 th birthday.

The reasons that children in Ethiopia die at such a young age are varied and diverse. However, around 70% of those deaths can be attributed to things such as acute respiratory infection, diarrhoeal diseases, measles, malaria, and malnutrition.

Sadly, around 46% of diarrhoeal diseases and 24% of acute respiratory problems could be treated by a simple solution.

Measles is one of the major illnesses that affect children in Ethiopia. Fatality rates vary from 3 to 5% in normal circumstances, and up to 15 to 20% in outbreak situations.

Malaria is also another major threat for children, with a prevalence rate of up to 75% in the country. Treatment for this is almost non-existent in some areas of Ethiopia.

Another problem is malnutrition, which has physical impacts and a negative effect on cognitive development in children. Around 52% of children in the country are stunted, 47% are moderately or severely underweight, and 11% suffer from wasting. In addition to this, 15% of infants are born with a low birth weight, and this is closely linked to maternal nutrition. 2

Primary Education in Ethiopia
There are many hurdles faced by Ethiopian children, and one of the hardest ones for them to overcome is the lack of education in many parts of the country.

There are an estimated 14 million children in the country that are of an age where they should be enrolled in primary school. Unfortunately, 36% of them aren’t – that’s around 5 million children who aren’t getting the education that they’re supposed to.

The problems of schooling go further than just poor enrolment numbers though. Attendance is low, and repetition and dropout numbers are high. Although schooling is free in Ethiopia, many families can’t afford to buy the uniforms, exercise books, or pay for the school maintenance costs.

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