"The Silent Crisis"
Impoverishment of East European kids

According to a report released by the European Children's Trust, at 
least 50 million children in the former socialist Eastern Europe and Soviet 
Union live in poverty and are exposed to levels of tuberculosis usually 
associated with the Third World. 

The European Children's Trust is a non-governmental organisation active in 
10 eastern European countries.

The report, titled "The Silent Crisis", says that "Since the breakup of the 
communist system, conditions have become much worse — in some cases 
catastrophically so."

Poverty has increased more than tenfold over the last decade due to 
reductions in government spending on health, education and social programs.

"In view of the extent of the economic collapse ... the term `transition' 
seems a euphemism. `Great Depression' might be a more appropriate term", 
says the report, referring to the term used in the West to describe these 
countries post counter-revolution.

"For all its many faults, the old system provided most people with a 
reasonable standard of living and a certain security", the report said.

Over 160 million people, 40 per cent of the region's population could be 
living in poverty — 50 million of them are children, and 40 million of 
those children are living in the former Soviet Union.

The report used as a indicators of poverty: infant mortality, the 
proportion of the population not expected to live to the age of 60, and the 
number of tuberculosis cases.

The report calls on the West to help by easing the region's debt burden.

The region's infant mortality at 26 per 1000 is approaching rates similar 
to those in Latin America and the Caribbean of 32 per 1000.

Nearly a quarter of the region's population are not expected to reach the 
age of 60. Russia is on a par with India, with nearly 30 per cent not 
expected to reach 60.

There were an average 67.6 cases of tuberculosis per 1000 in 1997 in the 
region, ranging from around 20 per 1000 in the Czech Republic and Slovenia, 
to 80 per 1,000 in Lithuania, Turkmenistan, Latvia and Russia, and 150 per 
1,000 in Georgia.

The proportion of the population living below the poverty line was worst — 
at 88 per cent — in Kyrgyzstan.

The West, the report argued, could help by easing the region's debt burden, 
which it said amounted to almost half its GDP.

Aid should be focused on training, it said, rather than on short-term 
relief.

The report said that time was running out. "That there has not been a total 
collapse of social structures in these countries so far is a testament to 
the resilience of the people there. But they cannot continue living this 
way indefinitely."