Minister of Women, Children and People with Disabilities, Ms Lulu Xingwana, said that government and its social partners must intensify programmes aimed at reducing the impact of poverty and social inequality on children. She was speaking during the Monitoring and Evaluation Conference which ended on Friday in Pretoria.
“Millions of children are bearing the consequences of these inequalities, as they are excluded from social and economic opportunities”, she said.
Compared to children of the top 20%, a child born in the lowest 20% income group is twice as likely to die before reaching the age of five years, three times more likely to be underweight and less likely to complete school.
“Income poverty remains a key determinant of children’s standard of living. Unemployment is a key constraint to overcoming poverty amongst women, children and people with disabilities”.
Overall, nearly four out of ten children live in households with no employed household members. Among the poorest, seven out of ten children live in households with no economically active members.
The Minister said that there had been significant progress in fulfilling children’s right to social security, particularly through the dramatic expansion of child support grants. This, she said, had contributed to a decline in child poverty. The eligibility age range for the Child Support Grant has gradually been extended from 0 to six years in 1999 to 0 to 18 years from 2012 onwards.
Access to safe water and sanitation has improved over the past decade with 83% of children having access to piped water on site or at a public tap. Access to adequate sanitation for children has improved from 47% in 2002 to 64% in 2009. “However, we still have almost 1.4 million children living in households that rely on rivers or streams as their main source of drinking water”.
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Protect our children from poverty – Minister Xingwana
