Children on the Frontline

ADDIS ABABA

OP-ED: Making Every African Child Count

There is much to celebrate this week as the African Union marks 50 years as an independent pan-African entity.

Marrying Off South Sudan’s Girls for Cows

“Our daughters are our only source of wealth. Where else do you expect me to get cows from?” asks 60-year-old Jacob Deng from South Sudan’s Jonglei state.

It Takes a Village to Educate a Girl

By Souleymane Maâzou

A decade ago, less than a third of school-aged girls in Niger were in class. Today, though significant cultural and religious opposition remains, nearly two-thirds of girls are enrolled in school.

Doctors in Argentina Sound the Alert on Vaccine Sceptics

By Marcela Valente

Argentina is one of the countries in Latin America with the highest levels of vaccination coverage. But experts are concerned about the growing campaign by vaccine critics against immunisation.

U.N. Says Somalia Famine Killed Nearly 260,000

By AJ Correspondents

Almost 260,000 people, half of them young children, died of hunger during the last famine in Somalia, according to a U.N. report that admits the world body should have done more to prevent the tragedy.

Educating Mothers to End South Africa’s Newborn Deaths

By Stanley Karombo

A young mother – who only wants to be identified as Karren – beamed as she nursed her newborn baby at the University of Witwatersrand’s Reproductive Health and HIV Institute, in Hillbrow, South Africa.

The Forced Inheritance of DRC’s Military Kids

By Passy Mubalama

The children of deceased police and army officers in North Kivu, eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, are finding themselves forced to adopt their late fathers’careers in the armed services to help their families survive.

Far from Home, Malian Refugees Strive to Rebuild Their Lives

By Issa Sikiti da Silva

Malian widow Mariama Sow, 30, and her three children are trying to find some semblance of normalcy in their lives in Dakar, Senegal, since they left the historic city of Timbuktu in northern Mali last June to escape the Islamist occupation.

Children Learn Lessons of Commerce on the Streets of Zimbabwe

By Jeffrey Moyo

Susan Sithole* is 14 and should be in grade nine or Form Two, according to Zimbabwe's education system, learning her lessons in Mathematics, English and other subjects.

Israel Criticised for Harsh Treatment of Palestinian Children

By Elizabeth Yousefi

In most countries, children are treated more gently by law enforcement than adults, with the right to have a parent present during questioning, for example. The situation is different in the Occupied Territories.

Little Hope for the Children Abducted in Mali’s War

By Issa Sikiti da Silva

One of Amina Diallo’s sons, 14-year-old Salif, has been missing since August last year. She thinks Islamists kidnapped him while he was on his way to the market in their hometown of Gao, in northern Mali, and recruited him as a child soldier.

Q&A: Brazil’s School Meals Teach Good Eating Habits

By Fabiola Ortiz

Providing school meals for 45 million children is a remarkable achievement for Brazil. But the programme faces specific difficulties, as well as the generic problems plaguing any national plan in this vast country of more than 192 million people.

Child Sexual Exploitation on the Rise in North Kivu

By Passy Mubalama

A street in Goma’s city centre, the capital of North Kivu in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, has been nicknamed “the ward of death” because of the brutal crimes that frequently occur there.

The Struggle to Keep Swaziland’s Primary Schools Free

By Mantoe Phakathi

As the Swazi government struggles to guarantee a no-cost nationwide primary school system, it finds itself sparring against school principals over the question if it is a lack of funds or an abundance of corruption that is standing in the way of its success.

Kinshasa Graveyard Home to Hundreds

By Emmanuel Chaco

Despite the health risks, officials say hundreds of families are living in a cemetery in the Congolese capital, Kinshasa. Municipal authorities seem powerless to act.