Nearly 23 percent of the nation’s disadvantaged children are underweight, while about one-third sleep inadequately guarded against the winter cold, a survey released by the Child Welfare League Foundation showed.
The poll conducted in October last year showed that 29.8 percent of the children surveyed said their winter bedclothes are inadequate against the cold, 17.1 percent had to take a cold shower in the absence of gas heating, while 22.6 percent were underweight.
The survey also showed that 95.5 percent of the children said they would be willing to help others of their own initiative, while 63.7 percent participated in a charitable event over the past year.
The children live up to the axiom: “It is more blessed to give than to receive,” the foundation said.
The survey also said that 43.7 percent of disadvantaged children in remote areas live in insect-ridden environments, while 36.7 percent of those area’s students come from the families that can barely afford school registration fees, let alone extracurricular activities.
Foundation executive director Chen Li-ju (陳麗如) said the ratio of insufficiently clothed children (29.8 percent) has decreased compared with last year, though there is still room for improvement.
The survey investigated a new category, showing that 16.1 percent of the children surveyed were “child home-keepers,” because both of their parents work, Chen said.
Chen said child home-keepers face malnutrition, as their body mass index (BMI) was 10 percent lower than that recorded for children in urban areas.
The survey showed 26.9 percent of children who take on the bulk of housekeeping duties have lower BMI readings compared with 22.6 percent of children in remote areas, while 24.5 percent of them have made doctor visits unaccompanied by their parents, including 11.9 percent who made the visits without any accompanying adult.
Chen said the charity campaign Light Up a Life plans to raise NT$100 million (US$3.1 million) to mark its 30th anniversary this year, an collect an extra NT$2 million raised in conjunction with the CTBC Charity Foundation to assist 3,000 disadvantaged pupils in remote areas.
However, according to the foundation, so far only 10 percent of the amount has been raised since last month, likely due to the crowding-out effect of funds raised for people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and in response to the Greater Kaohsiung gas pipeline explosions.
As the fundraising push is to conclude by the end of March, Chen called on the generosity of the public to help children in need.
The survey collected 903 valid samples from disadvantaged pupils in the fourth to sixth grade nationwide and had a margin of error of 4 percentage points.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai