15 February 2019•Update: 16 February 2019
By Ahmet Gurhan Kartal
LONDON
More than 500,000 babies may have died across the globe due to conflicts in the past five years, a report by the Save the Children said Friday.
The average number of child deaths in conflict-stricken regions in the world is more than 100,000 or 300 babies every day.
“At least 550,000 deaths of children under the age of one could be attributed to the effects of conflict in the 10 worst-affected conflict zones between 2013 and 2017, the most recent year for which data was available,” according to the report.
The report list Afghanistan, Yemen, South Sudan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Syria, Iraq, Mali, Nigeria Somalia the “countries where children were hardest hit by conflict in 2017.”
The figures did not include “children killed directly by fighting.”
The organization said its figures are estimates on “the number of infants and young children who may have died from the knock-on effects of nearby , such as starvation, outbreaks of disease, damage to hospitals, or delays to aid deliveries."
“Child deaths rose to 870,000 when all children under the age of five were included,” the report said.
“The horrific impact on children is partly the result of protracted modern conflicts, often fought among civilian populations ... but there is also a crisis in accountability – with persistent, widespread and sometimes deliberate violations of children’s rights across the globe,” it added.
The charity estimates almost 175,000 fighters or soldiers were killed in conflicts in the same five-year period.
