Pak ranked 23rd in chart of under-five mortality ratio

Pakistan has been ranked 23rd in the chart of under five mortality ratio with a trend of around 86 deaths per 1000 births.

"With a Human Development Index (HDI) value of 0.538, Pakistan ranks 147th out of 188 countries and territories, 23rd in the chart of under five mortality ratio with a trend of around 86 deaths per 1000 births," a seminar held on Child Rights on Sunday observed while referring to a United Nation Human Development report.

Presenting a report on the situation of children in the country, Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (SPARC), National Managers Kashid Bajeer and Zahid Thebo, said that child protection act was passed in 2011, but rules under it have not been framed as yet despite passage of five years, reports the Daily Times.

They noted that resultantly, not a single rupee out of the allocation of Rs.200 million for child protection has been spent during the last six months.

Apprehending that there seems to be no hope even during the coming months, they said that child protection centers were to be set up in Sindh under CPA 29,, but so far only three have been opened as a result of which six million children in Sindh out of 25 millions in Pakistan stay without schooling.

The speakers added that dropout of children from schools was increasing child labor but unfortunately, according to the survey carried 20 years earlier, the figure of child labor was 33 millions in the country.