World's children and families. (Child And Family).

CHILD MORTALITY: Despite a drop in child mortality rates worldwide, rates in developing nations are on the rise or holding steady and international efforts to reverse the trend remain unfocused, according to an editorial in the current issue of The Lancet, Journal of the British Medical Association.

UNICEF: Announced its first project on child injury prevention, saying it would provide $5 million to Vietnam to lower preventable deaths and disabilities among children there.

CHINA: While much world attention on Chinese population issues have focused on birth control, the country is facing an increasing problem with infertility, as more couples find themselves unable to conceive, Xinhua News Agency reports.

MYANMAR: The United States has urged the United Nations to pursue a more extensive investigation of the alleged rapes of at least 625 ethnic Shan women and girls by Myanmar troops, after reports by Shan human rights groups were corroborated by the U.S. State Department.

PAKISTAN: A collaboration between UNICEF and Lawyers for Human Rights and Legal Aid, says reported cases of abuse of Pakistani women totaled 3,296 in 2002, up from 2,917 in 2001.