Search NaijaAgroNet

Showing posts with label UNICEF. Show all posts
Showing posts with label UNICEF. Show all posts

Thursday, October 17, 2019

UNICEF warns ‘Poor diets damaging children’s health worldwide - NaijaAgroNet

NaijaAgroNet

 
High number of children are suffering the consequences of poor diets and a food system that is failing them, UNICEF warned today in a new report on children, food and nutrition, and as the United Nations and partners commemorate World Food Day, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The State of the World’s Children 2019: Children, food and nutrition finds that at least 1 in 3 children under five – or 200 million – is either undernourished or overweight. Almost 2 in 3 children between six months and two years of age are not fed food that supports their rapidly growing bodies and brains. This puts them at risk of poor brain development, weak learning, low immunity, increased infections and, in many cases, death.

The report provides the most comprehensive assessment yet of 21st century child malnutrition in all its forms. It describes a triple burden of malnutrition: Undernutrition, hidden hunger caused by a lack of essential nutrients, and overweight among children under the age of five, noting that around the world:

  • 149 million children are stunted, or too short for their age, including 13.1 million children in Nigeria
  • 50 million children are wasted, or too thin for their height, including 2.9 million children in Nigeria
The report warns that poor eating and feeding practices start from the earliest days of a child’s life. Though breastfeeding can save lives, for example, in Nigeria, only 27 per cent of children under six months of age are exclusively breastfed and an increasing number of children are fed infant formula. This means many Nigerian children are missing out on the life-saving benefits of breastmilk which is a baby’s first vaccine and offers the best possible nutrition at the start of life.

In Nigeria, malnutrition remains a major public health and development concern:49 percent of children under five years of age are not growing well (they are either stunted, wasted or overweight). This is the second highest proportion after the Democratic Republic of Congo in the West and Central Africa region. This is partly because 34 percent of children between six months and two years of age are fed food that is not rich and diversified enough to ensure optimal growth. 

As children begin transitioning to soft or solid foods around the six-month mark, too many are introduced to the wrong kind of diet, according to the report. As children grow older, their exposure to unhealthy food becomes alarming, driven largely by inappropriate marketing and advertising, the abundance of ultra-processed foods in cities but also in remote areas, and increasing access to fast food and highly sweetened beverages.

The report also notes that climate-related disasters cause severe food crises. Drought, for example, is responsible for 80 per cent of damage and losses in agriculture globally, dramatically altering what food is available to children and families, as well as the quality and price of that food; Nigeria is also affected by climate change.

To address the growing malnutrition crisis in all its forms, UNICEF is issuing an urgent appeal to government, the private sector, donors, parents, families and businesses to help children grow healthy by:

  1. Investing more resources in interventions aimed at preventing malnutrition among young children and supporting treatment when prevention fails.
  2. Supporting nursing mothers to adequately feed and care for their children.
  3. Empowering families, children and young people to demand nutritious food, including by improving nutrition education and using proven legislation – such as sugar taxes – to reduce demand for unhealthy foods.
  4. Driving food suppliers to do the right thing for children, by incentivizing the provision of healthy, convenient and affordable foods. 
  5. Building healthy food environments for children and adolescents by using proven approaches, such as accurate and easy-to-understand labelling and stronger controls on the marketing of unhealthy foods.
  6. Mobilizing supportive systems – health, water and sanitation, education and social protection – to scale up nutrition results for all children.
  1. Collecting, analyzing and using good-quality data and evidence to guide action and track progress.

 Isaac Oyimah/Editor

 ... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology

Tuesday, August 21, 2018

Boko Haram: UNICEF applauds release of 24 children from administrative custody - NaijaAgroNet

UNICEF has welcomed the release of 24 children aged 12 to 17 from Nigerian Army administrative custody after they were cleared of suspected ties with armed groups, especially the Boko Haram, reports NaijaAgroNet.

This brings the number of children released this year to 207.

“For these children, the long journey towards reuniting with their families, reintegrating with their communities and fulfilling their dreams starts today. We must support these children to fulfil their hopes and aspirations,” said UNICEF Nigeria acting Representative Pernille Ironside.

“UNICEF will continue to work with military and the authorities to support the reintegration of all children released, until there are no more children in administrative custody.”

As part of these efforts, UNICEF works with the Borno State Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development and partners to provide the children with medical attention and psychosocial support, before the process begins of reuniting them with their families and reintegrating them into society.

Since 2017, UNICEF has supported the social and economic reintegration of more than 8,700 children previously associated with non-state actors in north-east Nigeria, helping trace their families, returning them to their communities, and offering them psychosocial support, education, vocational training and informal apprenticeships, and opportunities to improve their livelihoods.

However, the resources available to support children affected by the conflict in north-east Nigeria are limited, with just under half of the required resources available,limiting UNICEF’s ability to deliver an integrated package of protection, WASH, nutrition and health services for the survival and development of vulnerable children in conflict affected areas.

... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology

Monday, July 30, 2018

UNICEF, LIXIL partner on sanitation for children - NaijaAgroNet

The world’s leading children’s organization, UNICEF and maker of pioneering water and housing products, LIXIL are partnering to help vulnerable children gain access to safe and clean toilets, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The partnership, named “Make a Splash! Toilets for All”, NaijaAgroNet gathered will leverage the two organizations’ complementary strengths to support progress towards the Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs) of achieving access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all, and end open defecation by 2030.

The UNICEF Executive Director, Henrietta Fore, noted that “Nearly 800 children die every day from diarrhea caused by unsafe water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene. Through this innovative partnership with LIXIL, we hope to help keep every child healthy and alive.”

UNICEF and LIXIL have already successfully worked together in Africa to provide people in need of toilets with access to sanitation products, designed by LIXIL to fit local conditions. The success led the partners to explore ways to expand their collaboration to improve sanitation for all.


The new partnership is among UNICEF’s most ambitious to date. It signals a new way that UNICEF is working with companies that engage their core business, at various levels, to achieve significant advances for children. It is UNICEF’s first global shared-value partnership in the water, sanitation and hygiene sector, and the first of its kind with a Japanese company.

Isaac Oyimah/GEE

... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology

Tuesday, February 20, 2018

UNICEF says new born mortality is alarming globally

The global deaths of newborn babies remain alarmingly high, particularly among the world’s poorest countries, according to the UnitedNations Children Fund (UNICEF), reports NaijaAgroNet.

A new report on newborn mortality by UNICEF with an extract made available to NaijaAgroNet, “Every year, 2.6 million newborns around the world do not survive their first month of life. One million of them die the day they are born.”

Globally, UNICEF noted that in low-income countries, the average newborn mortality rate is 27 deaths per 1,000 births, the report says. In high-income countries, that rate is 3 deaths per 1,000.

“While we have more than halved the number of deaths among children under the age of five in the last quarter century, we have not made similar progress in ending deaths among children less than one month old,” said Henrietta H. Fore, UNICEF’s Executive Director. “Given that the majority of these deaths are preventable, clearly, we are failing the world’s poorest babies.”

The report also noted that 8 of the 10 most dangerous places to be born are in sub-Saharan Africa, where pregnant women are much less likely to receive assistance during delivery due to poverty, conflict and weak institutions. With the newborn mortality rate of 29 deaths per 1,000 births, the global estimates rank Nigeria as the 11th highest on newborn deaths.

In the recent Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) conducted by the Government of Nigeria in 2016/17, the rate of newborn deaths per 1000 births is 37. This national average hides the differences between the 36 states and the slow progress in some of them.

“A fair chance in life begins with a strong, healthy start. Unfortunately, many children in Nigeria are still deprived of this,” said Mohamed M Fall, UNICEF Nigeria’s Representative. “MICS data tells us that the trend is improving but urgent action needs to be taken for Nigeria to reach the Sustainable Development Goals. It cannot afford to fail its newborns today.”

More than 80 per cent of newborn deaths are due to prematurity, asphyxia, complications during birth or infections such as pneumonia and sepsis. These deaths can be prevented with access to well-trained midwives during antenatal and postnatal visits as well as delivery at a health facility, along with proven solutions like clean water, disinfectants, breastfeeding within the first hour, skin-to-skin contact, proper cord care, and good nutrition. However, a shortage of well-trained health workers and midwives means that thousands don’t receive the life-saving support they need to survive.


This month, UNICEF is launching Every Child ALIVE, a global campaign to demand and deliver solutions on behalf of the world’s newborns. Through the campaign, UNICEF is issuing an urgent appeal to governments, health care providers, donors, the private sector, families and businesses to keep every child alive.

Isaac Oyimah/GEE

... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology

Tuesday, January 30, 2018

Emergency: UNICEF needs $3.6bn for 48m children in crises

The UNICEF is urgently in need of $3.6 billion to provide lifesaving humanitarian assistance to 48 million children living through conflict, natural disasters and other emergencies in 51 countries in 2018, reports NaijaAgroNet.
UNICEF Director of Emergency Programmes, Manuel Fontaine disclosed in a press statement made available to NaijaAgroNet, noted that around the world, violent conflict is driving humanitarian needs to critical levels, with children especially vulnerable. Conflicts that have endured for years – such as those in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, Nigeria, South Sudan, Syria and Yemen, among other countries –  continue to deepen in complexity, bringing new waves of violence, displacement and disruption to children’s lives.

“Children cannot wait for wars to be brought to an end, with crises threatening the immediate survival and long term future of children and young people on a catastrophic scale. Children are the most vulnerable when conflict or disaster causes the collapse of essential services such as healthcare, water and sanitation. Unless the international community takes urgent action to protect and provide life-saving assistance to these children, they face an increasingly bleak future,” Fontaine said.
According to Communication Specialist UNICEF Nigeria, Eva Hinds, parties to conflicts are showing a blatant disregard for the lives of children, hence children may not only be coming under direct attack, but are also being denied basic services as schools, hospitals and civilian infrastructure are damaged or destroyed. Approximately 84 per cent ($3.015 billion) of the 2018 funding appeal is for work in countries affected by humanitarian crises borne of violence and conflict.

The world is becoming a more dangerous place for many children, with almost one in four children now living in a country affected by conflict or disaster. For too many of these children, daily life is a nightmare.
The spread of water-borne diseases is one of the greatest threats to children’s lives in crises. Attacks on water and sanitation infrastructure, siege tactics which deny children access to safe water, as well as forced displacement into areas with no water and sanitation infrastructure – all leave children and families at risk of relying on contaminated water and unsafe sanitation. Girls and women face additional threats, as they often fulfil the role of collecting water for their families in dangerous situations.

“117 million people living through emergencies lack access to safe water and in many countries affected by conflict, more children die from diseases caused by unclean water and poor sanitation than from direct violence,” said Fontaine. “Without access to safe water and sanitation, children fall ill, and are often unable to be treated as hospitals and health centres either do not function or are overcrowded. The threat is even greater as millions of children face life-threatening levels of malnutrition, making them more susceptible to water-borne diseases like cholera, creating a vicious cycle of undernutrition and disease.”

As the leading humanitarian agency on water, sanitation and hygiene in emergencies, UNICEF provides over half of the emergency water, sanitation and hygiene services in humanitarian crises around the world.

When disasters strike, UNICEF works with partners to quickly provide access to safe drinking water, sanitation services and hygiene supplies to prevent the spread of disease. This includes establishing latrines, distributing hygiene kits, trucking thousands of litres of water to displacement camps daily, supporting hospitals and cholera treatment centres, and repairing water and sanitation systems. These measures save lives, have long-term impact and pave the way for other important services like health clinics, vaccination programmes, nutrition support and emergency education.

The largest component of UNICEF’s appeal this year is for children and families caught up in the Syria conflict, soon to enter its eighth year. UNICEF is seeking almost $1.3 billion to support 6.9 million Syrian children inside Syria and those living as refugees in neighbouring countries.

UNICEF said that working with partners and with the support of donors, intends in 2018 to provide 35.7 million people with access to safe water; Reach 8.9 million children with formal or non-formal basic education; Immunize 10 million children against measles; Provide psychosocial support to over 3.9 million children; Treat 4.2 million children with severe acute malnutrition.
Isaac Oyimah/GEE
... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology

Monday, January 1, 2018

Over 20,000 babies born on New Year’s Day in Nigeria - UNICEF

About 20,210 babies were born in Nigeria on the New Year’s Day, so says the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), reports NaijaAgroNet.

Also, UNICEF challenges nations around the world to make sure more newborns survive their first days of life, stressing that Kiribati’s Christmas Island, a small island in the Pacific, will most likely welcome 2018’s first baby; the United States, its last.

Globally, over half of these births are estimated to take place in nine countries including Nigeria -20,210; India - 69,070, China — 44,760, Pakistan — 14,910, Indonesia — 13,370, United States of America — 11,280, Democratic Republic of Congo — 9,400, Ethiopia — 9,020 and Bangladesh — 8,370.

While many babies will survive, some will not make it past their first day. In 2016, an estimated 2,600 children died every day of the year, on the day they were born. For almost 2 million newborns, their first week was also their last. In all, 2.6 million children died before the end of their first month. Among those children, more than 80 per cent of all newborn deaths are due to preventable and treatable causes such as premature birth, complications during delivery, and infections like sepsis and pneumonia.

 “This New Year, UNICEF’s global resolution is to help give every child more than an hour, more than a day, more than a month - more than survival,” said Terry Durnnian, Acting Representative of UNICEF Nigeria. “We call on the government and partners to join the fight to save the lives of millions children by providing proven, low-cost solutions.”

Over the past two decades, the world has seen unprecedented progress in child survival, halving the number of children worldwide who die before their fifth birthday to 5.6 million in 2016. But despite these advances, there has been slower progress for newborns. Babies dying in the first month account for 46 per cent of all deaths among children under five.

Next month, UNICEF will launch Every Child Alive, a global campaign to demand and deliver affordable, quality health care solutions for every mother and newborn. These include a steady supply of clean water and electricity at health facilities, the presence of a skilled health attendant during birth, disinfecting the umbilical cord, breastfeeding within the first hour after birth, and skin-to-skin contact between the mother and child.


 “We are now entering the era when the entire world’s newborns should have the opportunity to see the 22nd Century. Unfortunately, nearly half of the children born this year likely won’t. A child born in Sweden in January 2018 is most likely to live to 2100, while a child from Nigeria would be unlikely to live beyond year 2072,” Durnnian said.

Isaac Oyimah/GEE

... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology

Thursday, December 28, 2017

No safe place left for Nigerian children – UNICEF laments

With the unleashing of over 135 child-suicide bombers on Nigeria northeast, and increase across the world, the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) has lamented there is no more safe places left for children, reports NaijaAgroNet.

UNICEF in its latest submission on the state of suffering by Children made available to NaijaAgroNet, UNICEF Director of Emergency Programmes, Manuel Fontaine, said that in northeast Nigeria and Cameroon, Boko Haram has forced at least 135 children to act as suicide bombers, almost five times the number in 2016.

NaijaAgroNet also gathered that millions more children are paying an indirect price for these conflicts, suffering from malnutrition, disease and trauma as basic services – including access to food, water, sanitation and health; as they were denied, damaged or destroyed in the fighting.

Also in the Central African Republic, UNICEF said that after months of renewed fightinga dramatic increase in violence saw children being killed, raped, abducted and recruited by armed groups.

Over 2017 in the Afghanistan, almost 700 children were killed in the first 9 months of the year, while in the Kasai region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, violence has driven 850,000 children from their homes, while more than 200 health centres and 400 schools were attacked. An estimated 350,000 children have suffered from severe acute malnutrition. 

In Iraq and Syria, UNICEF said, children have reportedly been used as human shields, trapped under siege, targeted by snipers and lived through intense bombardment and violence.
Children in Myanmar, Rohingya region, UNICEF said, suffered and witnessed shocking and widespread violence as they were attacked and driven from their homes in Rakhine state; while children in remote border areas of Kachin, Shan, and Kayin states continued to suffer the consequences of ongoing tensions between the Myanmar Armed Forces and various ethnic armed groups.  
For the South Sudan, NaijaAgroNet reports that conflict has seen to a collapsing economy which led to a famine declaration in parts of the country, more than 19,000 children have been recruited into armed forces and armed groups, and over 2,300 children have been killed or injured since the conflict first erupted in December 2013.
Whereas in Somalia, estimated 1,740 cases of child recruitment were reported in the first 10 months of 2017.
Just as in Yemen, nearly 1,000 days of fighting left at least 5,000 children dead or injured, according to verified data, with actual numbers expected to be much higher. More than 11 million children need humanitarian assistance. Out of 1.8 million children suffering from malnutrition, 385,000 are severely malnourished and at risk of death if not urgently treated.
UNICEF calls on all parties to conflict to abide by their obligations under international law to immediately end violations against children and the targeting of civilian infrastructure, including schools and hospitals. UNICEF also calls on States with influence over parties to conflict to use that influence to protect children.

NaijaAgroNet recalls that across all these countries, UNICEF works with partners to provide the most vulnerable children with health, nutrition, education and child protection services.

Isaac Oyimah/ED, ops

... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology

Tuesday, December 5, 2017

WECA left behind in global HIV response - UNICEF

After over four decades into the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) epidemic, four in five children living with HIV in West and Central Africa are still not receiving life-saving antiretroviral therapy, NaijaAgroNet reports.
This is coming as AIDS-related deaths among adolescents aged 15-19 are on the rise, according to a new report released Tuesday by the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF).

NaijaAgroNet also reports that while acknowledging progress in several areas, the report Step Up the Pace: Towards an AIDS-free generation in West and Central Africa, jointly published by UNICEF and UNAIDS, shows that West and Central Africa is lagging behind on nearly every measure of HIV prevention, treatment and care programmes for children and adolescents. In 2016, an estimated 60,000 children were newly infected with HIV in West and Central Africa.

Disclosing this to NaijaAgroNet, UNICEF’s West and Central Africa Regional Director, Marie-Pierre Poirier, described as tragic that so many children and adolescents today are not receiving the treatment they need just because they have not been tested.

“We need to make better use of innovations to increase early diagnosis and improve access to HIV treatment and care for children. For example, the point-of-care technology diagnostic brings testing closer to where children attend health services and self-testing can be a good option for adolescents who may be more comfortable with it,” Poirier said.

The region’s coverage of life-saving antiretroviral therapy among children living with HIV, Poirier said, is the lowest in the world because many countries have limited capacity to perform the tests needed for early infant diagnosis of HIV. Without knowing a child’s HIV status, his or her family is less likely to seek the treatment that could prevent the tragedy of a child’s death from AIDS-related illnesses.

The situation is worse among adolescents. The annual number of new HIV infections among those aged 15–19 years in the region now exceeds that of children aged 0-14 years. These new infections occur mostly through unprotected sexual contact and among adolescent girls. Equally concerning, according to the report, is that West and Central Africa has recorded a 35 per cent increase in the annual number of AIDS-related deaths among adolescents aged 15-19 years — the only age group in which the number of AIDS-related deaths increased between 2010 and 2016.

With the region’s youth population expected to grow significantly within the coming decades, especially in countries like the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Nigeria, the numbers of children and adolescents becoming infected with HIV and dying from AIDS is likely to remain high, unless the HIV response – both prevention and treatment – improves dramatically.

The report highlights that the 24 countries that make up the West and Central Africa region are home to 25 per cent of children aged 0–14 years living with HIV worldwide.

“Leaders of the region have endorsed a Catch-Up plan aiming to triple the number of people on treatment in the region – including children – by the end of 2018, the key issue now is to accelerate implementation,” said Luiz Loures, UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director. 

“Countries should urgently put in place more effective strategies for early infant diagnosis of HIV, and start reducing inequity in children’s access to treatment.”

The report proposes key strategies that will enable countries to accelerate progress in curbing the spread of disease. These include:
1.    A differentiated HIV response focusing on unique epidemiological and local contexts in each country and community.
2.    The integration of HIV services into key social services including health, education and protection.
3.    Community ownership and local governance of the HIV response including working with families, better placed to help reduce stigma, access prevention and treatment.
4.    Investment in innovations to remove barriers to scale-up including new diagnostic and biomedical approaches such as point of care diagnostics, HIV self-testing and pre-exposure prophylaxis.


UNICEF announced last week that at the current pace of progress, the global 2020 Super-Fast-Track targets to end AIDS among children will not be achieved.

Isaac Oyimah/GEE

... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology

Friday, November 17, 2017

Beware! Nigerian children plan takeover on November 20

Yes, beware, the World Children’s Day (WCD) is on 20 November, and they youngsters are ready for the anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, reports NaijaAgroNet.

This follows the planned commemoration for this year, NaijaAgroNet reports that children across the world would ‘takeover’ high-profile moments in the media, politics, business, sports, music and entertainment to raise awareness on the most vulnerable and hardest to reach children. 

Children, according to UNICEF Nigeria, would raise their voices in solidarity with the world’s most disadvantaged children.

Also, children would shine a spotlight on the most pressing challenges faced by their generation, even as more than anything else on this day, “we seek your support to make this an advocacy moment for children’s right by children themselves.”

UNICEF equally outlines some children takeovers already confirmed;
1.      Children takeover prominent roles at Hilton Hotel.

2.     Presentation by a Nigerian child at the Ted talk-like Regional African Dialogue in Accra Ghana.
3.     Children’s visit to Fifth Chukker Polo and Country Club and takeover of management and games at the Club.
4.     Children takeover broadcasts at Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria
5.     Children takeover broadcasts at Kaduna State Media Corporation
6.     Children takeover broadcasts at Ebonyi State Broadcasting Service
7.     Children takeover broadcasts at Broadcasting Corporation of Abia state
8.     Children takeover broadcasts at Imo state Broadcasting Corporation
9.     Children takeover broadcasts at Anambra Broadcasting Service
10.  Children takeover broadcasts at Cross River Broadcasting Corporation
11.  Children takeover broadcasts at Radio Bayelsa
12.  Children takeover broadcasts at Radio Rivers
13.  Children take over broadcasts at Rhythm FM
14.  Children takeover broadcasts at Inspiration FM (Radio)
15.  Children takeover broadcast at Lagos Television
16.  Children takeover broadcast at Radio Lagos, Eko FM
17.  Children takeover broadcasts at Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria
18.  Children takeover broadcasts at Nigerian Television Authority
19.  Children takeover broadcast at Breeze FM Akure
20.  Children takeover broadcasts at Positive FM Akure
21.  Children takeover broadcasts at Bauchi State Television

22.  Children takeover broadcasts and the Managing Director’s role at the Bauchi Radio Corporation

Isaac Oyimah/GEE

... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology

Pix: VP Osibanjo with some Nigerian children during a visit. courtesy: premiumtimesng.com

Wednesday, September 27, 2017

Nigeria under-developing children, physically, mentally - UNICEF

The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) has lamente that Nigeria is putting her children at risk of under-development, both physically and mentally, because critical national policies are not providing an adequate foundation for their growth, reports NaijaAgroNet.
During the first years of a child’s life, UNICEF said in its latest report that the brain grows rapidly; providing good nutrition, loving care and appropriate play provide solid foundations for a child’s learning – and eventual contribution to economic and social growth.
The UNICEF report, Early Moments Matter for Every Child, outlines three policies that can give parents the time and resources needed to support their young children’s healthy development.
The recommended policies are: two years of free pre-primary education; six months of paid maternity leave; and four weeks of paid paternity leave. Nigeria currently has just three months of paid maternity leave, only one year of free pre-primary education and no paternity leave at all. Only about one in every 10 pre-primary children are enrolled in early education activities.
According to the medical journal, The Lancet, Nigeria ranks among the 10 countries with the largest number of children at risk of poor development. 
A 2016 national survey indicated that 31% of children under the age of five are moderately or severely underweight in Nigeria. Stunting as a result of malnutrition can cause irreversible physical and mental retardation. Even though exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of a baby’s life has clearly been shown to improve physical and mental development, the same survey revealed that only 24% of Nigerian children are exclusively breastfed for six months. Paid maternity leave will help to increase the number of children exclusively breastfed.
“What we call Early Childhood Development, which includes physical and cognitive support, has a strategic place in the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals,” said Mohamed Fall UNICEF Representative in Nigeria. “Investing in Early Childhood Development including services to support caregivers, quality pre-primary education and good nutrition will help to secure healthy and productive future generations in Nigeria,” he added.

As well as supporting exclusive breastfeeding, having good Early Childhood Development policies in place will help to improve the overall health and nutrition of a child, enable parents and caregivers to be more responsive to children’s needs and provide greater safety and security. It will also provide improved early learning.
With 90 per cent of a child’s brain development occurring before the age of five, early childhood experiences can have a profound impact on a child’s development can ultimately impact a country’s growth.

Isaac Oyimah/GEE
... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology

Tuesday, August 29, 2017

180m lack access to basic water, UNICEF

Over 180 million people do not have access to basic drinking water in countries affected by conflict, violence and instability across the world, UNICEF warned today, as World Water Week gets under way.

“Children’s access to safe water and sanitation, especially in conflicts and emergencies, is a right, not a privilege” said Sanjay Wijesekera, UNICEF’s global chief of water, sanitation and hygiene. ”In countries beset by violence, displacement, conflict and instability, children’s most basic means of survival – water – must be a priority.”

People living in fragile situations are four times more likely to lack basic drinking water than populations in non-fragile situations, according to a recent UNICEF and World Health Organisation analysis. Of the estimated 484 million people living in fragile situations in 2015, 183 million lacked basic drinking water services.

In Yemen, a country reeling from the impact of over two years of conflict, water supply networks that serve the country’s largest cities are at imminent risk of collapse due to war-inflicted damage and disrepair. Around 15 million people in the country have been cut off from regular access to water and sanitation.

In Syria, where the conflict is well into its seventh year, around 15 million people are in need of safe water, including an estimated 6.4 million children. Water has frequently been used as a weapon of war: In 2016 alone, there were at least 30 deliberate water cuts – including in Aleppo, Damascus, Hama, Raqqa and Dara, with pumps destroyed and water sources contaminated.

In conflict-affected areas in northeast Nigeria, 75 per cent of water and sanitation infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, leaving 3.6 million people without even basic water services.

In South Sudan, where fighting has raged for over three years, almost half the water points across the country have been damaged or completely destroyed.

“In far too many cases, water and sanitation systems have been attacked, damaged or left in disrepair to the point of collapse. When children have no safe water to drink, and when health systems are left in ruins, malnutrition and potentially fatal diseases like cholera will inevitably follow,” said Wijesekera.

In Yemen, for example, children make up more than 53 per cent of the over half a million cases of suspected cholera and acute watery diarrhoea reported so far.  Somalia is suffering from the largest outbreak of cholera in the last five years, with nearly 77,000 cases of suspected cholera/acute watery diarrhoea. And in South Sudan, the cholera outbreak is the most severe the country has ever experienced, with more than 19,000 cases since June 2016.


In famine-threatened north-east Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen, nearly 30 million people, including 14.6 million children, are in urgent need of safe water. More than 5 million children are estimated to be malnourished this year, with 1.4 million severely so.

Isaac Oyimah/GEE
... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology

Friday, July 7, 2017

UNICEF says lack of fund threatens education in conflict, disaster zones

The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) has raised alarm that lack of sufficient fund is threatening education for millions of children caught up in conflicts or disasters, reports NaijaAgroNet.

UNICEF raised this flag ahead of the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany.

NaijaAgroNet gathered that out of the $932 million needed this year for education programmes in emergency countries, UNICEF has so far received recorded voluntary contributions of less than $115 million.

Muzoon Almellehan, UNICEF’s latest and youngest Goodwill Ambassador, said in Hamburg, Germany.

“The funds are necessary to give 9.2 million children affected by humanitarian crises access to formal and non-formal basic education,” Almellehan said.

Pointing out that without education, children grow up without the knowledge and skills they need to contribute to the peace and the development of their countries and economies, aggravating an already desperate situation for millions of children,” said Muzoon Almellehan, UNICEF’s latest – and youngest – Goodwill Ambassador, speaking from Hamburg, Germany, where she is representing UNICEF at the G20 Summit. “For the millions of children growing up in war zones, the threats are even more daunting: Not going to school leaves children vulnerable to early marriage, child labour and recruitment by armed forces.”  

Funding gaps for UNICEF education programmes in some of the world’s hot spots vary from 36 per cent in Iraq, to 64 per cent in Syria, 74 per cent in Yemen and 78 per cent in the Central African Republic.

Pursuing educational opportunities has been cited as one of the push factors leading families and children to flee their homes, often at great risk to their lives. A survey of refugee and migrant children in Italy revealed that 38 per cent of them headed to Europe to gain access to learning opportunities. A similar survey in Greece showed that one in three parents or caretakers said that seeking education for their children was the main reason they left their countries for Europe.

For children who have experienced the trauma of war and displacement, education can be life-saving.

When I fled Syria in 2013, I was terrified I would never be able to return to school. But when I arrived in Jordan and realized there was a school in the camp, I was relieved and hopeful,” said Muzoon. “School gives children like me a lifeline and the chance of a peaceful and positive future.”

As an education activist and Syrian refugee, Muzoon joins forces with UNICEF to speak out on behalf of the millions of children who have been uprooted by conflict and are missing out on school.

“I urge world leaders to invest in the futures of children living in emergencies -- and by doing so invest in the future of our world,” Muzoon said.


Uj. N. Dominic/GEE
... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology