Children in the Central African Republic (CAR) are paying a heavy price for the troubles faced by the country, and their plight could worsen without urgent international support, said a senior official with UNICEF. "Children in CAR are in the eye of a storm," the agency's Deputy Executive Director, Hilde Johnson, said during a visit to the country last week. CAR is one of the most impoverished countries in the world and, according to UN humanitarian officials, the number of people affected directly or indirectly by conflict is estimated to be more than 1 million - out of a population of 4 million. It also has some of the worst child welfare indicators in the world, according to UNICEF, which says that about one in six children dies before reaching the age of five. (UN News Service)
