May 20 is Child Health Day.

Raising children healthily is an important issue related to the social development.

But many children in the world are now hopelessly withering away, catching diseases and suffering pains due to the long-standing climate change and armed conflicts and other causes.

A few years ago, UNICEF released a white paper which offered for the first time its prediction on the environment with which children under 18 years old would be faced in the 2050s. According to it, the issue of climate change will surface and the present situation, called the climate crisis, be further aggravated, with more children being exposed to extreme danger. Concretely, the number of children suffering heat wave will increase 8 times and those suffering flood damage 3.1 times more than those in the 2000s and children to be faced with drought, typhoon and other threats will also grow in number, it added.

The disastrous abnormal weather conditions which have increased due to global climate change in recent years severely threaten the lives and health of children with a low capacity to cope with them.

Various kinds of epidemic diseases spreading the world also claim many lives of children.

The continuing armed conflicts and disputes throughout the world presents a constant threat to the health and lives of children.

According to data available, after the outbreak of the Gaza crisis the Israeli troops indiscriminately killed over 20 000 children. More than 40 000 children were wounded and some 20 000 became disabled.

Those, who narrowly escaped death, are faced with severe famine.

The governments of all countries should not turn a blind eye to the plight of these children, but fulfil their responsibility.

Close attention is paid to the health and personal safety of children in the DPRK, in which children are held up as the “king” of the country and everything related to the rising generation is regarded as the top-priority affair.

Nutritious foods including dairy products are regularly supplied to all children across the country and good conditions are provided for their upbringing.

Nurseries and kindergartens are found everywhere the children are. Baby homes and orphanages built in the capital and provinces are provided with all conditions needed for the upbringing and life of the children.

Children enjoy the medical benefits, free from worries about receiving medical treatment, in the wonderful medical service facilities including the Okryu Children’s Hospital.

As it has become the mode of advance and development of the Korean revolution to show more sincere love for children in hard times and vigorously advance towards the future of communism on the strength of this love, the DPRK continues to intensify and develop the work to protect and promote the health of children.