UNITED NATIONS, Feb 28: Hundreds of millions of children in cities across the world are growing up in poverty and deprivation, according to a report unveiled on Tuesday by the United Nations.

It called for an end to social exclusion and for measures to give youngsters access to basic services and opportunities for a better future.

The “State of the World’s Children 2012”, released by the UN Children’s Fund (Unicef), highlights the hardship that many children living in urban areas go through.

“Children’s situations and needs are often represented by aggregate figures that show urban children to be better off than their rural counterparts, obscuring the disparities that exist among the children of cities,” says Anthony Lake, the Unicef’s executive director, in the report’s foreword.

The document stresses that despite growing up in proximity to modern facilities and basic services, many children in urban areas lack access to electricity, clean water and education. They are also at high risk of contracting diseases due to unsanitary conditions and suffering from malnutrition.

At present, more than a billion children live in cities and towns. While many of these children enjoy access to basic services, a large number face numerous challenges that impede their full development.

According to Unicef, one in three city dwellers lives in slums while in Africa the ratio is as high as six in ten.

“Overcrowding and unsanitary conditions facilitate transmission of disease — notably pneumonia and diarrhoea, the two leading killers of children under the age of five worldwide,” the report said. “Outbreak of measles, tuberculosis and other vaccine-preventable diseases are also more frequent in these areas, where population density is high and immunisation levels are low.”

While global vaccine coverage is improving, the report warns that it remains low in slums and informal settlements, increasing the population’s vulnerability.The report also states that children who live in slums face hunger and malnutrition. Poor nutrition is responsible for more than a third of deaths globally for children under the age of five.

“Even the apparently well-fed — those who receive sufficient calories to fuel their daily activities — can suffer the ‘hidden hunger’ of micronutrient malnutrition,” the report warned.

In addition to poor health, the report pointed out, children living in slums were the least likely to attend school.

“Especially in slums, where public education options are scarce, families face a choice between paying for their children to attend overcrowded private schools of poor quality or withdrawing their children from school altogether.

“Even when schooling is free, ancillary expenses — uniform, classroom supplies or exam fees, for example — are often high enough to prevent children from attending school.”