Pray for children in Brazil

As Brazil steps into the world’s spotlight, take a moment to pray for Brazilian children living in poverty. Brazil is the fifth most populous country in the world, with more than 195 million people, of which approximately 30 per cent are under 18 years of age.

Pray into 4 issues faced by Brazil’s children

• Child prostitution is on the rise, particularly in areas frequented by foreign tourists such as Rio de Janeiro, Recife and Fortaleza.
• According to a UNICEF report, the number of children and teenagers murdered in Brazil has more than doubled in the last 20 years. In 2013, an average of 28 children and adolescents were killed every day, making Brazil the country with the second largest number of homicides of boys and girls under the age of 19 in the world.
• More than 3 million children and adolescents remain out of school, mostly from Afro-Brazilian, indigenous and quilombola communities.
• Maternal mortality remains high, with 61.5 mothers dying per every 100,000 births, from complications related to pregnancy and child birth.*
• Brazil is the second-largest consumer of cocaine in the world and an important shipment country for Bolivian, Colombian and Peruvian cocaine headed for Europe. Brazil’s increasing role in the international drug trafficking scene has seen a corresponding upsurge in drug-related violence and weapons smuggling, as well as financial crimes like extortion. Pray for protection for children living in communities where drug abuse is rife.

^{*#ECA25Years – Improvements and challenges for childhood and adolescence}