More Than 70K Births In Liberia Unrecorded During Ebola Outbreak, Leaving Children Vulnerable To Trafficking, Denial Of Services, UNICEF Warns

New York Times: Liberia: Ebola Stalls Birth Registrations
“The births of more than 70,000 children in Liberia during the Ebola crisis were never recorded, leaving them vulnerable to marginalization as noncitizens, denial of government services, trafficking, and illegal adoption, UNICEF reported Thursday…” (Gladstone, 7/30).

Thomson Reuters Foundation: Ebola disrupts Liberia birth records, poses trafficking threat — U.N.
“…Before the Ebola outbreak in December 2013, birth registration rates in Liberia increased to 25 percent in 2013 from four percent in 2007, then the world’s second lowest rate, according to the country’s demographic and health surveys. But the number of birth registrations fell to 48,000 in 2014 from 79,000 in 2013, before the onset of the virus, and only 700 children had their births registered between January and May this year, UNICEF said…” (Guilbert, 7/31).

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