The Nation Newspaper

Tag: UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF)

  • Teenage girls are bearing the brunt of global AIDS epidemic – UNICEF

    Teenagers, and particularly girls, are bearing the brunt of the global AIDS epidemic with around 30 adolescents becoming infected with HIV every hour, according to a report by the UN Children’s Fund ( UNICEF ).

    UNICEF said out of those 30 new infections each hour among 15 to 19 year-olds in 2017, around 20 or two-thirds – were in girls.

    This, UNICEF said, represents a “crisis of health as well as a crisis of agency”.

    While there has been substantial progress in the fight against AIDS in the last two decades, the failure to prevent so many new infections among children and teenagers is slowing this down, the report said.

    The agency said the epidemic’s spread among adolescent girls is being fuelled by early sex, including with older men, forced sex, powerlessness in negotiating around sex, poverty and lack of access to confidential counselling and testing services.

    “In most countries, women and girls lack access to information, to services, or even just the power to say no to unsafe sex,” said Henrietta Fore, UNICEF’s executive director.

    Read Also: Army hands over 183 Boko Haram child-suspects to UNICEF

    “HIV thrives among the most vulnerable and marginalized, leaving teenage girls at the centre of the crisis.”

    UNICEF’s report, presented on Wednesday at an AIDS conference in Amsterdam, said that 130,000 children aged 19 and under died from AIDS in 2018, while 430,000 – almost 50 an hour – were newly infected.

    Adolescents between the ages of 10 and 19 account for almost two thirds of the three million
    under-19 year-olds living with HIV.

    And while AIDS-related deaths among all other age groups have been falling since 2010, those among older adolescents aged 15 to 19 have seen no reduction.

    Angelique Kidjo, a UNICEF goodwill ambassador who contributed to the report, said economic empowerment and education were crucial.

    “We need to make girls and women secure enough economically that they don’t have to turn to sex work,” she said.

    “We need to make sure they have the right information about how HIV is transmitted and how to protect themselves.”

    UNAIDS says the fight against the AIDS epidemic, in which 37 million people worldwide are infected with the incurable HIV virus – is at a “precarious point”, with deaths falling, treatment rates rising, but rates of new HIV infections stubbornly high.

  • 21,000 Benue IDPs benefit from WASH interventions – Official

    Twenty-one thousand displaced people are benefiting from the Water Sanitation and Hygiene ( WASH ) interventions in Guma and Logo Local Government Areas of Benue, an official has said.

    Mr Ibiyemi Olu-Daniels, the Deputy Director, WASH Emergency Response, Federal Ministry of Water Resources, made the disclosure at a WASH Emergency Working Group Meeting in Abuja on Tuesday.

    Olu-Daniels said that the interventions, funded by the UN Children’s Fund ( UNICEF ), had been able to scale up hygiene promotion programmes to reduce disease prevalence in the camps.

    “In IDPs camps in Guma and Logo Local Governments, water facilities are lacking or decrepit, majority of the IDPs have no access to toilet; it is saddening that about 1,000 people share one drop-hole.

    “This is making open defecation commonly practiced, there is low level of hygiene awareness, Limited WASH sector response is currently provided, but it is not enough,” he said.

    The deputy director, who described the situation as an emergency, called for more interventions to sustain the growing needs of IDPs.

    According to him, the humanitarian crisis in Benue is affecting no fewer than 200,000 people, which was further aggravated by the continuous farmers-herdsmen crisis.

    He said that 12,000 WASH kits had been distributed to IDPs, 10 hand-pump boreholes were rehabilitated and provision of water chlorination to promote access to potable water.

    Olu-Daniels said that part of the intervention was the sensitisation on sanitation and safe excreta management in the host and IDP communities using the Community-Led Total Sanitation approach.

    He said that this would reduce the prevalence of diseases and forestall outbreak of waterborne diseases in the camps.

    Olu-Daniels noted that with support from the state emergency management agency, two camps had been opened for the Cameroonian refugees.

    The deputy director stressed the need for the provision of water points and sanitation and hygiene kits for them.

    He added that the WASH Emergency Response Team was working in Yobe, Borno and Bauchi States toward hygiene promotion through the distribution of WASH kits and sanitation activities.

    Olu-Daniels said that there was need for state rural water supply and sanitation agencies to take ownership of scaling up sanitation and hygiene.

    He said that we should not wait for an emergency before actions were taken.

    Olu-Daniels added that with the continued reports of cholera cases in Bauchi, the team would carry out an on-site assessment to know what immediate response to be given.

    The WASH in Emergency Group is working to see that humanitarian responses, especially in the North-East reach their target population.

    NAN

  • 19m babies risk brain damage annually due to lack of iodine – UNICEF

    19m babies risk brain damage annually due to lack of iodine – UNICEF

    According to UNICEF, nearly 19 million babies born globally every year are at risk of permanent yet preventable brain damage and reduced cognitive function due to a lack of iodine in the earliest years of life.

    A UN-backed report released on Thursday said the figure represents 14 per cent of the total global population of children, according to UN Children’s Fund ( UNICEF ) Senior Nutrition Adviser, Roland Kupka.

    The report from UNICEF and its partner, the Global Alliance of Improved Nutrition (GAIN), noted that insufficient iodine during pregnancy and infancy resulted in neurological and psychological deficits, reducing a child’s IQ by eight to 10 points.

    “The nutrients a child receives in the earliest years of life influence their brain development for life, and can make or break their chance of a prosperous future.

    “By protecting and supporting children’s development in early life, we are able to achieve immense results for children throughout their lifespan,” he added.

    The UNICEF official noted that salt iodization was both cost effective and economically beneficial at only 0.02 to 0.05 dollar per child annually.

    According to him, every dollar spent on salt iodization is estimated to return 30 dollars through increased future cognitive ability.

    Titled “Brighter futures: Protecting early brain development through salt iodization,” the report also notes that more than one in four affected children – 4.3 million – lives in South Asia.

    While South Asia is home to the largest proportion of babies at risk globally, the region has the second highest iodized salt coverage rate at 87 per cent of the population, preceded by East Asia and the Pacific at 91 per cent coverage.

    The lowest coverage with iodized salt was seen in Eastern and Southern Africa, where around 25 per cent of the population do not have access to iodized salt, leaving 3.9 million babies every year unprotected against iodine deficiency disorders.

    The earliest moments of life, from conception up to age two, are the most critical for a child’s development, UNICEF said.

    It added that nutrition, along with protection and stimulating activities like play and early learning, during a child’s first 1,000 days shape brain development for life.

    The report outlined urgent steps to reduce the risk of mental impairment to babies’ growing brains.

    This includes the integration of salt iodization into national plans to support children’s nutrition and brain development in early childhood and the establishment of surveillance systems to identify unreached populations.

    NAN

  • Infants global mortality ‘alarmingly high’ – UNICEF

    Infants global mortality ‘alarmingly high’ – UNICEF

    Newborns are dying at “alarmingly high” rates in countries that are poor, conflict-ridden or have weak institutions, the UN Children’s Fund ( UNICEF ) said on Tuesday in a new report.

    The new UNICEF report revealed that babies born in these places were 50 times more likely to die in the first month of life than those born in some wealthier nations.

    The report also noted that eight of the 10 most dangerous places to be born are in sub-Saharan Africa.

    Nigeria ranked 13th country with the largest number of newborn deaths in 2016 with 247 deaths in 1,000 and accounted for nine per cent of share of all global newborn deaths.

    Countries with the highest newborn mortality rates are Pakistan – 1 in 22, Central African Republic – 1 in 24, Afghanistan – 1 in 25, Somalia – 1 in 26, Lesotho – 1 in 26, Guinea-Bissau – 1 in 26, South Sudan – 1 in 26, Côte d’Ivoire – 1 in 27, Mali – 1 in 28 and Chad – 1 in 28.

    In these countries, pregnant women are much less likely to receive assistance during delivery due to poverty, conflict and weak institutions.

    “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.

    “We know we can save the vast majority of these babies with affordable, quality health care solutions for every mother and every newborn.

    “Just a few small steps from all of us can help ensure the first small steps of each of these young lives.

    “Given that the majority of these deaths are preventable, clearly, we are failing the world’s poorest babies,” UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore said.

    According to the report, babies born in Japan, Iceland and Singapore have the best chance of  survival, while newborns in Pakistan, the Central African Republic and Afghanistan face the worst odds.

    UNICEF said globally, 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.

    The report stated that in Japan, one in 1,111 newborn babies die in the first month of life while in Pakistan, the ratio is one in 22.

    It added that if every country brought its newborn mortality rate down to the high-income average by 2030, 16 million lives could be saved.

    More than 80 per cent of newborn deaths are due to prematurity, complications during birth or infections such as pneumonia and sepsis, the report said.

    The report said deaths could be prevented with access to well-trained midwives, along with proven solutions like clean water, disinfectants, breastfeeding within the first hour, skin-to-skin contact 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, it stressed.

    For example, while in Norway there are 218 doctors, nurses and midwives to serve 10,000 people, that ratio is one per 10,000 in Somalia.

    This month, UNICEF is launching Every Child ALIVE, a global campaign to demand and deliver solutions on behalf of the world’s newborns.

    NAN

  • Menstrual hygiene: UNICEF trains adolescent schoolgirls on washable pad

    Menstrual hygiene: UNICEF trains adolescent schoolgirls on washable pad

    The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on Tuesday trained  adolescent girls in Osun public schools on how to make washable sanitary pad for effective menstrual hygiene management.

    The training was part of a four-day workshop organised by UNICEF in collaboration with Health Aid For All Initiative (HAFAI) for secondary school adolescent girls on menstrual hygiene management in Iragbiji, Osun,

    The UNICEF representative, Miss Hyeladzirah Shalangwa, said the training was aimed at helping young girls to have access to affordable sanitary pad during mensuration.

    Shalangwa, who noted that many young adolescent girls could not afford the disposable pad due to its high price, said the training would assist them on how to make washable pad on their own.

    According to her, the training will also assist in reducing waste disposal, since the pad is washable.

    She added that the training would create consciousness of menstrual hygiene management and empower the girls, saying they could even make and sell the washable pad.

    “There is no doubt that sanitary pad is expensive and the quality is deteriorating but with this training on washable pad, girls are good to go,” she noted.

    The resource person at the programme, Mr Femi Aluko, said the training would create menstrual hygiene management on the consciousness of the girls.

    Aluko, who is a lecturer at the Department of Community Health, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, said since the washable pad could not be disposed, it would help in waste disposal management.

    Prof. Nkadi Onyegbegbu, the National Coordinator of UNICEF ‘ Win 4 Girls Project ‘ in Nigeria, urged girls to avoid using herb for menstrual pains.

    She said taking herbs for menstrual pain could destroy the kidney and other vital organs in the body.

    She advised that “lying on a bed with two legs raised up would assist in reducing menstrual pain.”

  • WHO, UNICEF laud $1.2bn polio eradication fund for Nigeria, others

    WHO, UNICEF laud $1.2bn polio eradication fund for Nigeria, others

    The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) have commended the 1.2 billion dollars funding initiative to eradicate polio disease in Nigeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

    UNICEF Executive Director, Anthony Lake, and WHO Director-General, Margaret Chan, gave the commendations as global health leaders reaffirmed their commitment to fund the eradication of polio in the countries.

    The major pledges included 75 million dollars from Canada, 61.4 million dollars from the European Commission, 55 million dollars from Japan, and 30 million dollars from Sheikh Mohamed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.

    Others pledges were 30 million dollars from the Dalio Foundation, 25 million dollars from Bloomberg Philanthropies, 15 million dollars from an anonymous donor, and 13.4 million dollars from Australia.

    There were also 11.2 million dollars from Germany, five million dollars each from EasyJet and Italy while the Republic of Korea pledged four million dollars.

    The Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), a public-private partnership dedicated to ending the disease, announced the pledges at the Rotary Convention in Atlanta.

    Lake said “today’s funding commitments will enable the programme to continue to improve performance and overcome challenges to reach every child, including vaccinating children in conflict areas.

    “We are truly on the verge of eradicating polio from the planet, but only if we work relentlessly to reach the children we have not yet reached.

    “We cannot fail to make this last effort.

    “If we do not now make history, we will be judged harshly by history’’.

    The UNICEF chief commended efforts towards ending the disease, saying polio has been eliminated from some of the most remote and challenging areas in the world.

    “For example, India, once considered the most difficult place in the world to stop the disease, hasn’t reported a case in more than six years.

    “No fewer than 16 million children worldwide, who would otherwise have been paralysed by the disease, are walking today,’’ he said.

    Similarly, Chan pointed out that polio resources in countries around the world were helping to advance other national health goals.

    “The key to ending polio will be to ensure that millions of health workers, some of whom work in the most challenging environments in the world, are able to reach every child, everywhere in the world,’’ Chan said.

    She noted that eradicating polio would be a perpetual gift to coming generations.

    “Today’s contributions and the continued commitment of all donors and partners will help end this devastating disease.

    “It will also ensure that the infrastructure and assets used to fight polio lay the foundation for better health outcomes for children everywhere for years to come.’’

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that financing of polio eradication has been remarkably successful over the past years.

    Between 1988 and 2013, donors have voluntarily contributed more than 9.5 billion dollars to polio eradication.

  • 150,000 children out of school due to rebel violence in Congo – UNICEF

    150,000 children out of school due to rebel violence in Congo – UNICEF

    The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said Friday that  150,000 children are not attending school due to ongoing clashes between militias and security forces in Central Congo.

    UNICEF in a report, estimated that more than one in ten children of primary-school age in the region had their schooling interrupted as a result of the violence, which has been raging since August 2016.

    Accordong to UNICEF, no fewer than 600 schools have been damaged by attacks.

    Other schools are being used as emergency shelter for families displaced by violence or whose areas have been occupied by rebel groups.

    In May, UNICEF warned that the fighting had left about 400,000 children at risk of severe acute malnutrition, while families displaced by violence had been left without adequate sanitation or healthcare.

    Security forces in Kasai are fighting the Kamwina Nsapu militia, which seeks the removal of central government presence from the area.

    The killing of the traditional chief who was head of the militia in August 2016 saw the violence escalate and spread to five provinces.

    Offshoots of the Kamwina Nsapu and ethnically based militias are also involved in the fighting.

    According to the police and UN figures, about 1,000 militiamen, security force members and civilians have been killed in the conflict.

    Nearly 1.3 million people have been displaced.

  • UNICEF to scale up nutrition programme in Gombe

    The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) will scale up its nutrition programme in Gombe State local governments, its Nutrition Programme Consultant, Mrs Olufummilayo Adebambo, said.

    Adebambo told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Gombe on Friday that
    the programme, started in 2009 in Gombe, Dukku and Nafada, would now be
    scaled up to Kaltungo.

    She said “we will scale up to Kaltungo, based on data we got from Maternal Neonatal Child Health week in January 2017; the number of malnourished children is also high in Kaltungo.”

    The consultant added that the programme would begin in April in Kaltungo, following the success recorded in the three areas where the programme first started.

    She explained that UNICEF planned to teach communities how to prepare Infant and York Child Feeding (IYCF) with the available foods in their communities.

    “We will teach breast feeding mothers how to use available foods in their communities to prepare complementary feeding for babies who are seven months, after the six months exclusive breast feeding encouraged by UNICEF.”

    She said with the introduction of IYCF, it would combat malnutrition in Gombe State because it would be cheaper and available.

     

  • ‘Boko Haram destroys 75% of water infrastructure in Northeast’

    ‘Boko Haram destroys 75% of water infrastructure in Northeast’

    The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Wednesday that  Boko Haram terrorists have destroyed 75 per cent of the water infrastructure in the Northeast Nigeria.

    UNICEF Director of Emergency Programmes, Manuel Fontaine, also said that 3.8 million people in the northeast are currently threatened by lack of water.

    “In northeast Nigeria, the fight on Boko Haram damaged or destroyed 75 per cent of water and sanitation infrastructure.

    “Some 3.8 million people have no access to safe water,” the UNICEF official saint.

    In famine-hit countries in Africa and the Middle East, unsafe water is as dangerous for severely malnourished children as lack of food, he said.

    He warned that nearly 27 million people are at risk of safe water in northeast Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen.

    “Unsafe water can cause malnutrition or make it worse, no matter how much food a malnourished child eats, he or she will not get better if the water they are drinking is not safe,” he said.

    The UN agency is warned that a combination of malnutrition, dirty water and poor sanitation sets off a vicious cycle from which many children never recovered.

    In Somalia, about one-third of the population is expected to need access to water and sanitation in the coming weeks, according to UNICEF, pushing the current needs from 3.3 million to 4.5 million of people.

    “Some 5.1 million people lack safe water, sanitation and hygiene in South Sudan, where half of the water points in the country have been damaged or destroyed.

    “The fighting in Yemen has displaced at least 14.5 million people, leaving them without basic sanitation and adequate drinking water,” UNICEF warned.

    According to the latest figures, almost two million children are at risk of diarrhea diseases which, even before the conflict, were the second leading cause of death among children under the age of five.

    “UNICEF is working with other UN agencies, national authorities and local partners to provide safe water and sanitation to children.

    “But without an end to the conflicts plaguing these countries, without sustainable and unimpeded access to the children in need of support and without more resources, even our best efforts will not be enough,” Fontaine said.

     

  • UN agencies declare famine in parts of South Sudan

    UN agencies said on Monday declared famine in parts of South Sudan.

    According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the UN children’s fund UNICEF and the World Food Programme (WFP) said no fewer than 100,000 people are facing starvation in parts of violence-plagued South Sudan.

    “Famine is currently affecting parts of Unity State in the northern-central part of the country.

    “A formal famine declaration means people have already started dying of hunger,” the three agencies said.

    An additional one million are on the brink of famine in several parts of the country, where farming has been hampered since a military conflict erupted between President Salva Kiir and his former deputy, Riek Machar, in December 2013.