Asia: Children's Life Hanging in the Balance
Topic B: Children not living with their parents, one of Thailand’s biggest social problems
About 21% of children or 3 million children in Thailand are living without their parents due to internal migration. It has been a problem that has been growing throughout the years and this year has been the most hazardous for Thai children. In only the northeastern region, 1 in every 3 children are not living with their parents. Almost 90% of these children that are not living with their parents are living with their grandparents. And 36% of the caretakers, including grandparents, have a risk of having mental health illness.
Results from the study’s initial phase showed that 25 per cent of children who are not living with their parents have developmental delays compared with 16 per cent of children who are living with both parents.
The study also suggested that in the households where fathers migrate, about 40 per cent of fathers had not sent home any money during the previous six months. In addition, nearly 30 per cent of fathers had never contacted their children or their children’s caretakers.
Useful links:
http://www.unicef.org/media/media_73914.html
http://article.wn.com/view/2014/06/26/More_than_3_million_children_in_Thailand_do_not_live_with_th/
http://www.thaiworldview.com/family.htm
Topic C: Injury a leading killer for children in Asia
Children in Asia are at great risk of dying from injuries such as drowning and road accidents. Surveys from Bangladesh, China, the Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam reveal that injury is the leading cause of death and disability among children older than one year of age in these countries, with drowning taking the heaviest toll.
The surveys findings that the risk of dying from injury increases after infancy as children grow more independent and interact with their environment and as the threat of death from infectious and non-communicable diseases falls. Nearly half of all child deaths included in the studies happened after the age of five. The most easily preventable causes were suffocation and drowning which mostly occurred in children under five years of age.
Useful links:
http://www.unicef.org/media/media_43157.html
http://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/child/injury/world_report/CIP_SEARO.pdf
http://www.unicef.org/eapro/IRC_Working_papers_1-4_-_with_covers_-low_res.pdf