New Delhi, June 17 (IANS) Nearly two-thirds of the 100 districts in the country where children are most vulnerable to poverty, lack of parental care, social unrest and HIV/AIDS are in Orissa, West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand, according to a study.

 
 The study by the SOS Children's Villages of India said children are most vulnerable in Orissa's Koraput district, followed by Madhya Pradesh's Balaghat and Jharkhand's Godda, Giridih and Pakur districts.
 
 "There is an urgent need to protect the most vulnerable child population in the backward parts of the country," Rakesh Jinsi, secretary general of SOS Children's Villages of India.
 
 Of the 100 Child Vulnerable Districts (CVD) in India, 62 districts fall in the east zone comprising Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa and West Bengal.
 
 "The child development index was developed by the team based on the most felt causes of child vulnerability and orphans. Based on this method, 593 districts in India were ranked based on three key variables like HIV/AIDS, social unrest and population below poverty line," Jinsi said.
 
 "The sum index value determines the degree of child vulnerability for each district," he added.