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C<br />
28 <strong>THE</strong> CRUEL TOLL<br />
ON CHILDREN<br />
“There is no trust more sacred than the one the world<br />
holds with children. There is no duty more important<br />
than ensuring that their rights are respected, that their<br />
welfare is protected, that their lives are free from fear<br />
p18<br />
and want and that they can grow up in peace.”<br />
Kofi Annan, 2000<br />
Children are most vulnerable to tropical diseases<br />
because of their immature immune systems, active<br />
lifestyles and the high rates of malnutrition in rural<br />
developing regions where these diseases prevail.<br />
Their exposure frequently predates birth, as infections<br />
during pregnancy produce infants who have birth<br />
defects or low birth weights.<br />
If untreated, children, like adults, die of sleeping sickness<br />
and visceral leishmaniasis. If Chagas disease<br />
starts early on in their lives, they die or are disabled<br />
as early as middle age. Buruli ulcer and yaws mostly<br />
strike the young, and the consequences – chronic<br />
pain, stunting, disfigurement, cognitive impairments,<br />
and loss of muscle and bone to surgery – last a lifetime,<br />
hampering growth and development in many<br />
other ways.<br />
The secondary consequences of NTDs are also<br />
devastating. Susceptibility to other health risks such<br />
as malaria and HIV/AIDS may be heightened. Illnesses<br />
prevent children from attending school. As a result<br />
they are denied a good start in life. The effects combine<br />
to feed new generations into the vicious cycle<br />
of extreme poverty – lack of education, lack of land<br />
ownership, lack of social power and political voice,<br />
and continued gender inequality.
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