1.5 Million Children Starve to Death Every Year

According to the 2004 report of the United Nations Children Education Fund (UNICEF) released on Friday in Berlin, 530,000 children under the age of 5 in the Democratic Republic of Congo alone lost their lives to hunger. The report pointed out that four of five children in Sierra Leone, Angola and Afghanistan die without even making it to their 5th birthday.

It was reported that because of malnutrition and lack of drugs, most of the children succumb to curable diseases such as measles, diarrhea and malaria. The report also points out that some children in these crisis regions are killed by landmines. The report calls upon the world public and governments to allocate more resources to help children more effectively.

Famous American singer and UNICEF goodwill ambassador, Harry Belafonte, criticized the lack of interest shown towards hunger and disease in the world. "If we cannot come over these difficulties," he said, "we will never be able to live in peace."