UNICEF: Global recession will kill African kids

The global recession will increase infant and child deaths and cause more students to drop out of school in Africa, the U.N. children's agency predicted Monday, as the financial crisis delivers a delayed blow to the continent and is expected to linger longer. Droughts in Africa and the 1990s Asian financial crisis have showed that the poor cope with drops in income by cutting back on food and medical treatment and withdrawing their children from school to avoid spending money on tuition and supplies, said Anthony Hodges, UNICEF's social policy adviser for west and central Africa. While figures are hard to pin down, a 1 percentage point drop in a country's GDP has been linked to a 1 percent increase in infant deaths, said Mohammad Farooq, a UNICEF official from the impoverished southern African kingdom of Lesotho.