At its largest gathering to date, the World Economic Forum is expected to be “more serious” than recent years because of the pressing economic, health and terror turmoil. But the U.N. wants to make sure that the devastating threats against children aren’t left out of the conversation.
More than 2,500 participants are expected to attend the five-day event in Davos, Switzerland, where business leaders, politicians and Nobel laureates are tackling such heavy topics as deepening global inequality and declining trust in government. But experts say that such grave issues as Ebola and Islamic extremism will inevitably take center stage, and UNICEF has urged participants to also put crises vulnerable children face at the forefront of the event.
–
While impressive gains have been made in improving maternal and childhood health, such as reducing childbirth-related deaths, adolescents face a number of increasing risks, and aren’t getting the attention the desperately need.
The number of AIDS-related deaths has dropped among all age groups, besides the 10- to 19-year-old demographic, according to Craig McCure, UNICEF’s associate director of programs and chief of HIV/AIDS. In fact, the virus is the second leading cause of death among adolescents worldwide. Part of the problem, according to McClure, is that prevention efforts focus predominantly on mothers and children, and once adolescents “age out” of the programs, they have nowhere to turn.
