Close to one billion of the world's children and adolescents live in conditions of extreme poverty and risk. Within this group, roughly 210 million children are working for their subsistence, many in deplorable conditions of forced labour.
Throughout Latin America and the Caribbean , almost 60% of all children –over 100 million of them -- live in exceptionally difficult conditions that are rooted in poverty. They include an estimated 36 million child labourers, and approximately six million malnourished children.
Close to 11 million children in this region die before reaching the age of five from preventable causes including dehydration, respiratory infections, acute malnutrition, unclean water and hazardous sanitary conditions.
Violence is endemic in Latin America and the Caribbean , threatening communities, families and children across the region. Every year, more than six million children and adolescents are mentally and physically abused in their own homes. About 85,000 of these children die from violent mistreatment at the hands of a family member.
Nearly half of all primary school students in Latin America and the Caribbean drop out before completing their sixth year. Gender-based discrimination deprives many girls of education and food, while relegating them to the status of “ second-class citizens”.
The HIV/AIDS epidemic is increasingly infecting children and youth, as well as women and the poor. Within this region, over two million adults, youth and children are currently living with HIV/AIDS. More than half a million children are orphans due to HIV/AIDS.
