What the children really need

Abhinav Upadhyay

There are over eight billion people in the world. And Around 2.3 billion of them are kids. But, a lot of those kids aren’t growing up the way they should be. Instead of playing, learning, and being loved, many of them are facing hunger, poverty, and even war. And over 45 million of them don’t get enough food for proper growth. For every 4 children living a proper and fulfilling life, one is suffering from starvation and poverty. Childhood should be spent by having fun, growing and learning, not suffering, poverty and starvation.

In the past few years alone, wars in Syria, Palestine, Sudan, and Ukraine have claimed the lives thousands of children. Since 2023, over 18,000 Palestine children have been killed in Gaza, over 700 in Ukraine, with over 2,000 injured children, and a staggering estimated death of over 550,000 children in Sudan due to famine and conflict, with over 200,000 other children suffering from malnutrition, starvation, and lying on the brink of death. All of those death and suffering of children in the past 2 years alone. And any of the children who end up surviving in these types of places and environments end up being traumatized for life, and some who were injured end up developing severe disabilities that hinder their ability to live properly. Yet, all of this still goes on, with over 13,000 children dying everyday due to starvation, poverty or war.

Yemen, Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Ukraine, Somalia, Yemen, Afghanistan, Haiti, Venezuela, North Korea, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Palestine and Sahel are just a few of the countries where children are living in constant fear and suffering. Over 138 million children are being forced to work, they are being exploited into forced labor by their parents or child traffickers, with over 54 Million children being forced to work in hazardous places like the mines, construction, factories and other places where they might be injured or harmed. Over 2 million children are being exploited in sex trafficking, with over 38% of the sex trafficking market consisting of children. Around 60 kids die each day in these conditions. With over 22,000 dying each year.

However, most of these deaths are caused by things that can be easily prevented with a little bit of care, nutrition and protection. Over 97% percent of the deaths are preventable, with the rest of the 3% being deaths caused by Diseases with no cure, such as rare genetic disorders, cancer, etc. So, in the annual death of over 5.7 million children, over 5.5 million of those can be saved.

Everyone, including the Government, Organizations and the mass public should work to save the children from the horrors of war, exploitation and starvation. There are already thousands of organizations already trying to save children’s lives, by providing food, vaccines, healthcare, and education, but the supplies that these organizations need is far beyond what they currently have. The Developed nations must take responsibility, by helping these organizations and the countries in need of help by supplying the needed materials and food.

Children should never grow up experiencing fear, hunger, sadness or trauma, as Childhood is meant for learning, having fun. Ensuring that the children have access to basic necessities, such as Education, Food, Shelter and Protection is not charity, it’s is a moral imperative. Children who survive in these kinds of environments deserve proper care, support and therapy, as they might grow up with Trauma or PTSD.

When we try to look clearly at everything, we realize that the solution already exists. Children are not dying because of lack of medicine, food, supplies or knowledge, Children are dying because all the Medicine, food, supply or knowledge is misplaced and unequally distributed.

Wealthy nations spend billions annually for weapons and luxury. Redirecting even a small fraction of these funds for the thousands of dying kids would make such a huge difference for them.

Spreading awareness is also extremely important. People living in developed countries are often unaware about the living conditions of people living in war-stricken, impoverished or Third world countries. Media coverage always seems to only post about tragedies for a small period of time, which causes the tragedies to be soon forgotten about by people. Without awareness, any done by the organizations and the aware is practically futile. Spreading Awareness, educating the public, keeping the spotlight on the affected children, and amplifying their voice would raise empathy and a sense of urgency.

Every death, every loss is not just a number, it’s another mind that could have discovered or invented something that could’ve changed the course of the world. The children are our futures, after some time, they will be the ones leading and protecting world, and right now, it is our right to protect them. When we allow these kids to die to preventable causes, we’re not just losing them alone, we are losing potential that could shape the world into something better. Each life lost is wasted potential, progress, joy, and a better future.

What kids truly want is not hard to get or achieve. All any kid in any corner of the world wants is to spend their time with their family, to have fun, to learn and to eat a full stomach every day. While some kids live the best life they could’ve lived, some are struggling to eat even once a day. So let’s do something about this. Let’s help our future grow and prosper. As if we won’t take care of them now, who will take care of the world after us? We need to raise awareness, we need to do any and everything in our power to help them.

(The writer is a 9^th Grade student at Nandinas Academy, Dhangadhi, Nepal)