Editorial

This issue is dedicated to the Day of the African Child. This year’s theme is “The African child and the family”. As we mark this day, our Kenya correspondent Henry Neondo reports that various African countries are still grappling with the challenge of providing adequate health care for the children as stipulated in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child.

Botswana’s children are trapped in a row pitting the government and the Johane Apostolic Church, whose doctrines forbid the use of modern medicine and health care. Our Southern Africa correspondent Mqondisi Dube argues that it is children under the age of five who stand to lose in this legal row, as they may not be immunized against polio.

Despite the enactment of the Children’s Act in Kenya, child abuse is still rampant due to lack of effective implementation of the legislation. As Allan Orao argues, this situation could be alleviated if more stakeholders, including children themselves were involved in the implementation process.

Back to Botswana, child rape statistics have reached alarming proportions. Our Southern Africa correspondent Rodrick Mukumbira says that accusing fingers are being pointed at traditional healers who have perpetuated the myth that having sex with a virgin cures Aids.

In Kenya, there is nothing much to write home about even as the Day of the African child is marked. Notably, the deep-rooted culture that puts the girl child at a disadvantage is yet to be addressed, writes Roseline Orwa.

The high HIV prevalence rates in Swaziland has equally given rise to a swelling population of Aids orphans. But as our Swaziland correspondent James Hall reports, there is a ray of hope for these orphans as the government strives to provide them with their basic needs.