Child abuse cases up in Binga

CASES of child abuse are on the increase in Binga district, Matabeleland North province where many children are without birth certificates.

A report for the period April to June this year presented by the Department of Social Welfare to a delegation of social workers and partners from 12 countries who visited Binga on Thursday, showed that sexual, physical and emotional abuse as well as neglect, child abandonment, hazardous labour, early child marriages and conflict were on the rise in the district.

The delegation from Sub-Saharan Africa countries was attending a Regional Case Management Learning Platform meeting which ended on Friday in Victoria Falls.

On Thursday, the delegation embarked on a field visit to four Binga wards which are Siansundu, Siabuzuba, Siachilaba and Manjolo as well as Binga centre.

Child Care Workers (CCWs) who volunteered to take care of the orphans in the district, said most of the children did not have birth certificates.

“We face a number of challenges as we deal with child protection cases. The major challenge is that most children, about half of them have no birth certificates. Many of them also travel long distances to school,” said one child care worker while briefing the delegation.

Binga District has 25 wards with 31 675 households and a population of about 138 074 people, according to the 2012 census. Fifty-five percent of these are children who include disadvantaged children such as orphans.

According to the report presented to the delegation, child abuse has resulted in increasing numbers of Orphaned and Vulnerable Children (OVCs) in need of educational and medical support.

It said child protection cases related to poverty such as neglect and child marriages are on the rise while HIV prevalence jumped from 3,5 percent in 2015 to seven percent in 2016.

“Fishing and farming are the major economic activities in the drought prone district. Binga district records high cases of