It is quite uncertain that an infant born to a poor family in Bangladesh would survive. Chances are bleak. Such is the level of malnutrition. According to statistics, eight out of 10 births in Bangladesh are at home, on a dirty floor, without a skilled health worker present, putting both the baby and the mother at risk.
The situation is gruesome. Even mothers’ frail bodies fail to produce enough milk to breastfeed the babies. Even if they can manage to give a bit of breast milk for six months, nutrition from there is a huge challenge. Abject poverty, high food price, ignorance… due to all these factors only 21% of children under two years of age receive a minimum acceptable diet.
And the story ahead is pathetic. The family does not have enough food and by the time the child reaches school age, he or she has to start working in order to sustain. According to statistics almost seven million children between five and 14 have to work to help their families survive. There are around 400,000 child domestic workers between the ages of 6 and 17 in Bangladesh.
And think about those kids who work in the house of strangers who compel them to work for long hours for very little or no pay and even resort to sexual assaults and physical torture. A report says that 5 % are raped by employers, 20% are physically tortured, and some are even killed.
Today is the first ever International Day for Girl Children. And here is the shocker: At around the age of 13 or 14, the girl children who work as domestic helps are called back to the village and forced to marry. It may be noted that 2/3 of girls are married before they turn 18 in Bangladesh. And these teenaged girls get pregnant soon after the wedding and the worst happens at the time of delivery: both the mother and the bay die.
And if they manage to survive the story repeats. This is the cycle of poverty that people across the world started pondering.
Don’t you think we too should start thinking and discussing?
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