Childhood misery for millions

Thousands of rural South Africans migrate to the cities and towns every year to provide a better life for their families but a Unicef study has found that children living in urban areas might be worse off.

"The State of the World's Children 2012", a report on the study released yesterday, said that children in cities are often denied basic services such as electricity, clean water, healthcare and education, despite having immediate access to these services.

The UN fund's biggest concern was that millions of children live in overpopulated urban slums and are exposed to violence, disease and exploitation.

Lacking water, adequate sanitation and durable structures, South Africa's informal settlements are classified as urban slums by the UN Human Settlements Programme.

Unicef executive director Anthony Lake said: "The data are startling. By 2050, 70% of all people [in the world] will live in urban areas. Already, one in three urban dwellers lives in slum conditions. In Africa, the proportion is a staggering six in 10. The effect on children living in such conditions is significant," Lake said.

More than 30million South Africans, more than half the population, live in urban areas, and millions of children grow up in informal settlements and impoverished neighbourhoods.

The report said overcrowding and unsanitary conditions facilitated the transmission of disease, including pneumonia and diarrhoea, the leading killers of children younger than five worldwide.

Children living in a slum also suffer from insecurity because their family often faces eviction and maltreatment by landlords and municipal authorities intent on "cleaning up" the area.

Poor children living in urban areas also experience high levels of depression and distress.

The report cited studies that found that many children living in poverty were distressed by the stigma of being "underprivileged".

Children and teenagers in cities had greater access to alcohol and drugs than their rural counterparts and abused these substances as a coping mechanism, the report said.

Though much of the report described the grim reality of most urban children, it did not ignore instances of children's wellbeing.

The South African government's partnership with teenagers from informal settlements in Cape Town was praised for enabling young people to influence the planning, financing and management of urban infrastructure.