The Nation Newspaper

Tag: UNICEF

  • Intensify birth registration for proper healthcare planning, UNICEF to federal govt

    The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) UNICEF has urged federal government to intensify birth registration for proper education and healthcare planning.

    The UNICEF Child Protection Specialist, Sharon Oladiji, stated this at a media dialogue in Lagos.

    According to her, Nigeria has the highest number of children without birth records among ten nations assessed in Africa.

    Mrs Oladiji said the NPC has millions of children, whose births had not been registered, due to their remote locations, insecurity, shortage of manpower, among other factors.

    “The federal government must ensure the birth registration of 32 million under-five children in the country to properly plan for their education, healthcare and other services. We need birth records for them because this is critical for their education, health and other social initiatives,” she said.

    She said only nine per cent of the under-five which is 2.8 million children, had birth certificates across the 36 states. She added that the absence of birth records had hindered proper education and socio-economic planning by the government.

    “Only 44 per cent of Africa’s birth are registered leaving an estimated 85 million children under five unregistered,” she said.

    According to her, a special attention is required for the under-five children in Nigeria. This number of children is projected to increase from 32 million in 2015 to 58 million by 2050 she added.

    “Birth registration will help to provide planning in education, health, social security and insurance. Registering the child will enable the government to plan and implement education and health policies,” she said.

    She said while data is so difficult to come by in Nigeria, “we cannot effectively plan for our children if we do not know their population and spread through birth registration”.

    “This birth registration is the conscious, permanent, compulsory and universal recording of the occurrence and characteristics of birth as provided by regulation in accordance with legal requirements.”

    She said UNICEF is assisting the Nigerian government through the NPC to improve collection, collation, management and use of birth registration data to ensure optimal functionality of the process.

    The NPC in a briefing revealed the statistics of under-five children registered nationwide, with 22 states registering only three to 10 per cent.

    The event was attended by officials of the National Population Commission (NPC), the agency responsible for census, birth registration and others.

  • 2.6m Nigerians under age five severely malnourished – UNICEF

    Estimated 2.6 million Nigerian children under the age of five suffer from severe acute malnutrition every year, that makes them likely to die from common illnesses such as diarrhoea, pneumonia and malaria, United Nations Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF) has said.

    Kaduna state with 1.6 million children under five, has 4.1% population severely malnourished, 47% are stunted, 11.7% are wasting and 34% are underweight. To address these challenges, the state government set up five Community Management Acute Malnutrition (CMAM) sites each in Zaria, Makarfi, Igabi, Kaduna South and Kaduna North local government areas.

    Read Also:UNICEF partners traditional rulers to end violence against children

    Addressing a one-day meeting with local government chairmen and their wives on nutrition intervention in Kaduna state organised by Kaduna State Emergency Nutrition Action Plan (KADENAP) on Tuesday in Kaduna, Unicef said malnutrition accounts for 50% of under-five deaths in Nigeria, hence it’s decision to support the establishment of three more CMAM sites in Soba, Lere and Giwa LGAs.

    Unicef Kaduna Chief of Field Officer, Zakari Adam said, “Adequate nutrition is one of the infrastructure for a steady growth and economy development of any nation. Investing in nutrition is fundamental to economic and human development.

    “About half of the child mortality occurring could be attributable to malnutrition. Thus, nutrition plays a central role in averting deaths of children. Malnourished children tend to have lower intelligent quotient and impaired cognitive ability with resultant negative effect on their performance in school and productivity in later life. Investment in nutrition will help reverse this negative trend and boost our GDP.”

    Wife of Kaduna state Governor and Chairperson of KADENAP, Hajiya Aisha Ummi Garba El-Rufai, in her address urged the local government chairmen and their wives to take ownership of the programme and see their intervention as helping humanity, noting that nobody would like to have any of the malnourished children as their own.

    Hajiya Ummi commended Kaduna State Transport Authority for helping to transport malnourished children from hard-to-reach areas in Igabi and Zaria LGAs to CMAM sites.

    “It’s all about humanity. We don’t want to see any human being in that malnourished condition. Malnutrition is not just about the children but also about the women. I urged you all to give your best. Don’t just see this as any other job but as serving humanity,” she pleaded.

    The State Nutrition Officer, Hajiya Hauwa Usman, said efforts by the state government to spread the intervention across the state saw the establishment of Community Management Acute Malnutrition (CMAM) sites in Soba, Lere and Giwa LGAs, adding three more CMAM sites will be set up in Jema’a, Chikun and Kauru LGAs by October.

  • UNICEF partners traditional rulers to end violence against children

    The United Nations Children’s Fund ( UNICEF ) says it is working with traditional rulers in the campaign to end violence against children in Cross River State.

    Speaking at a workshop organized in collaboration with the Ministry of Women Affairs and Department of Chieftaincy Affairs, for traditional rulers in Calabar on Tuesday, Child Protection Specialist UNICEF Nigeria, Enugu Field Office Mrs Nkiru Maduechesi said it was pertinent to bring them on board in the campaign as opinion leaders in the communities.

    She said the workshop was for traditional leaders of the three local government areas of Akwamkpa, Calabar Municipal and Calabar-South local government areas.

    “The theme is ending violence against children through community mechanism. The essence is to sensitize and renew the commitment if the traditional institution to support the ongoing campaign to end violence against children in Cross River State, which is quite prevalent because we believe that the community leaders are the gate keepers and opinion leaders and so need to be on board with this campaign.

    “As a UN agency to ensure then rights of children are protected we started a work called the child protection systems strengthening in the state. Cross River is one of the four model states in Nigeria. The others are Lagos, Gombe and Plateau. Part of what we are doing is bringing all actors on board to end violence against children because issues of violence against children is not just a human rights violation for the child, but also a source of economic underdevelopment.

    Read Also: UNICEF urges Bauchi to redeem N250m counterpart fund

    “When children are abused, they lose their opportunity to fulfill their potential and that is economic loss to the family, state and country at large. When a child is pregnant because the child has been raped that child drops out of school. That child could have HIV and because of that instead of government using the money for other things, they now use it to respond to HIV, which if they had acted in preventing from happening in the first place, would have saved some economic resources,” Maduechesi said.

    The Permanent Secretary of the Department of Chieftaincy Affairs, Mr Thomas Erete, said violence against children was rampant and appealed to the traditional rulers to use their positions as leaders in their various communities to check the problem with the knowledge they would get from the workshop.

  • UNICEF urges Bauchi to redeem N250m counterpart fund

    The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) has urged the Bauchi State Government to pay its counterpart fund of N250 million to enable it benefit from intervention fund under the Sanitation, Hygiene and Water in Nigeria (SHAWN) project.

    UNICEF officer in charge of Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) in Nigeria, Mr Zard Jurji, made the call  last Monday when he led a team of UNICEF staff on a visit to the deputy governor of the state, Alhaji Audu Katagum in Bauchi, the state capital.

    According to him, money has been set aside by the government of United Kingdom for the implementation of SHAWN projects in 12 local government areas of the state. He therefore, warned that the state government might lose the fund if payment of the counterpart money is not completed in earnest.

    Jurji also called on the state government to upgrade the WASH units of local government areas to the status of department for proper supervision and sustainability of SHAWN projects in the state.

    In his response, the deputy governor, Katagum, said the state government would pay it counterpart fund within two weeks. He praised UNICEF and the United Kingdom for its commitment towards improving the lots of the people, especially in the area of water, sanitation and hygiene.

  • HIV/AIDS: UNICEF task media on preventive advocacy

    The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has called on media executives to scale up public enlightenment on the growing rate of HIV/AIDS among adolescents in Nigeria.

    Mr Rabiu Musa, the Communication Officer of UNICEF, Kaduna Field Office, made the call on Wednesday in Keffi at a meeting with some media executives in Keffi, Nasarawa State.

    Musa said the fund was alarmed with the high prevalent rate of HIV/AIDS among adolescents in Nigeria and underscored the need for journalists to raise public awareness towards combating the menace.

    He said UNICEF was partnering with the National Orientation Agency, State Governments, media, traditional rulers, religious leaders, healthcare experts and civil society organisations, among others, to enlighten youths on the dangers of the scourge.

    He said the collaboration was focused on the Prevention of Mother-To-Child Transmission (PMTCT) and HIV/AIDs in order to tackle the spread of the scourge in the country.

    According to him, the aimed of the meeting was to provide knowledge/orientation to media executives on PMTCT, AYP and HIV/AIDs situation so as to tackle the menace in the country.

    “The aim is also to review and document programme of the media and organisations in the state in supporting the dissemination of PMTCT, AYP/HIV and AIDS messages.

    “To leverage airtime and produce links for dissemination of PMTCT, AYP/HIV and AIDS messages. And also to develop media plans by the participating media houses for implementation,“ he said.

    Read Also: Rejected child migrants face worse situation on return – UNICEF

    The official therefore enjoined the participants to appreciate the magnitude of and map out strategies on how to address the challenges on PMTCT, and Adolescent and Young Persons (AYP) in the society.

    Besides, Musa called on the media to upscale to educate the public on the dangers of the scourge considering its negative effect to societal development.

    He restated the commitment of UNICEF to continue to partner the state and other organisations in order to tackle the scourge in the country.

    “We want to work towards addressing HIV/AIDS in Nasarawa State as the state that is one of the growing states in terms of HIV/AIDs,” he said.

    Alhaji Galadima Soba, the Kaduna State Director of NOA, urged the participants to develop a good media plan for implementation and use of existing programmes for effective dissemination of PMTCT, AYP, HIV and AIDS messages worldwide.

    Soba, who was represented by the state’s Deputy Director, Human Resources and Finance, Malam Hamza Audu, called for more systematic and improved packaging of the various messages in more effective ways on awareness creation of PMTCT, AYP, HIV and AIDS.

    “I am optimistic that with the right attitude and inputs of the calibre of the participants here-present to develop a good media plan for implementation and use of existing programmes for effective dissemination of PMTCT, AYP, HIV and AIDS messages worldwide,” he said.

    The meeting will undertake an overview of HIV/AIDS prevalence in Nasarawa State, share experiences from Kaduna State and adopt action plans for increased enlightenment, among others.

    NAN.

  • UNICEF prepares DRC school children for Ebola response

    The UN Children’s Fund ( UNICEF ) said more than 82,500 children are being prepared for the new school year in Ebola-affected areas of the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

    UNICEF said it was scaling up education, health and water, sanitation and hygiene programmes to assist the schools to provide a protective learning environment for children and their teachers.

    The Government of the DRC recently made the decision to proceed as planned with the start of the school year in the affected provinces of North-Kivu and Ituri, where some 250 schools are listed as being in Ebola-affected health zones.

    “Education is a right for every child and essential for children to develop to their full potential.

    “Especially in times of crisis such as an Ebola outbreak, schools are vital for children to find stability, learn prevention measures and receive psychosocial support.

    “Every effort must go into ensuring a smooth and safe start to the new school year,” said Dr Gianfranco Rotigliano, UNICEF Representative in the DRC following his visit to Mangina, the epicentre of the Ebola-epidemic.

    School principals and teachers would receive training on Ebola prevention and protection, and how to educate children on good hygiene practices to avoid the spread of the virus.

    To ensure schools in the affected health zones are well prepared for early detection and response, UNICEF is distributing health and WASH supplies including laser thermometers, hand washing units and megaphones and prevention posters to each of the 250 schools.

    UNICEF and partners are working to train school principals and more than 1,750 teachers in the affected health zones about Ebola and protection measures against the virus.

    They are also organising prevention communication activities for parents committees and local authorities on prevention measures in every concerned school.

    They prepare teachers to sensitise all children at the beginning of the school year on good hygiene practices to contain the spread of the virus, and distribute 500 laser thermometers – two in each school – to monitor the health situation of children.

    UNICEF and partners are also installing 1,500 hand washing units – six in each school – to promote hand washing and hygiene, as well as distribute megaphones and prevention posters in every school.

  • Army hands over 23 minors rescued from Boko Haram to UNICEF

    The Nigerian Army yesterday handed over 23 minors rescued from Boko Haram to United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) for rehabilitation.

    Theatre Commander of Operation Lafiya Dole, Maj. -Gen AbbahDikko, disclosed this at the command headquarters in Maiduguri.

    He said the exercise was in conformity with international best practise.

    Dikko said: “In compliance with global best practise, we handed over these children associated with armed group to UNICEF,” Dikko said.

    He explained the gesture was in line with the commitment of the army to promote civil military relationship toward achieving lasting peace in the Northeast.

    UNICEF Chief of Field Office, Geoffrey Ijumba Borno State, Geoffrey Ijumba, who received the minors, welcomed the release of the 23 boys and girls aged between 12 and 17 years from the military custody.

    He said UNICEF was working with the military and Borno government through the Ministry of Women Affairs to provide medical attention, psychological and social supports to victims displaced by the Boko Haram conflicts.

    He said: “For these children, the long journey towards reuniting with their families, with their communities and fulfilling their dreams starts immediately.

    UNICEF’s Nigeria Acting Representative, PernilleIronside, stressed the UN would continue to work with the military and other authorities to support the reintegration of all children released by the military.

    Ironside stressed the need to support these children to fulfill their hopes and aspirations, saying the organisation will not relent until there are no more children in administrative custody.

     

  • Army hands over 23 minors rescued from Boko Haram to UNICEF

    The Nigerian Army on Saturday  handed over 23  minors rescued from Boko Haram to United Nations Children Fund ( UNICEF ) for rehabilitation.

     

    Maj.-Gen. Abbah Dikko, Theatre Commander of Operation Lafiya Dole, who disclosed this at the command headquarters in Maiduguri, said the exercise was in conformity with international best practise.

     

    Dikko said, “In compliance with global best practise, we handed over these children associated with armed group to UNICEF.”

     

    He explained that the gesture was in line with the commitment of the army to promote civil military relationship toward achieving lasting peace in the Northeast.

     

    In his remark, Mr Geoffrey Ijumba, UNICEF Chief of Field Office, Borno State, who received the minors, welcomed the release of the 23 boys and girls aged between 12 and 17 years from the military custody.

     

    He said UNICEF was working with the military and Borno government through the Ministry of Women Affairs to provide medical attention, psychological and social supports to victims displaced by the Boko Haram conflicts.

     

    He said, “For these children, the long journey towards reuniting with their families, with their communities and fulfilling their dreams starts immediately.

     

    Pernille Ironside, UNICEF’s Nigeria Acting Representative, stressed that the UN would continue to work with the military and other authorities to support the reintegration of all children released by the military.

     

    Ironside stressed the need to support these children to fulfill their hopes and aspirations, saying the organisation will not relent until there are no more children in administrative custody.(NAN)

  • Rejected child migrants face worse situation on return – UNICEF

    Migrant children sent back to their home countries from the U.S. and Mexico often face a situation worse than that which they were originally trying to escape, UNICEF said in a report published on Thursday.

    “They are likely to experience an intensification of factors – violence, poverty, lack of opportunities, stigmatisation, social exclusion and internal displacement – that drove them to migrate in the first place,’’ the agency said.

    The idea that migrant children can simply be reintegrated into their communities is “more complicated’’.

    It used the example of parents, often from Honduras, Guatemala or El Salvador, who pay around $15,000 to smuggle an unaccompanied child to the U.S.

    Poor families often finance such a move by selling all their belongings and property or by taking huge loans and so children then have nowhere to which they can return.

    Read Also: Ambassador hails Buhari for signing ‘Not-Too-Young-To-Run’ bill

    They can end up in deep debt or be targeted by gangs, according to Maria Cristina Perceval, the UNICEF Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean.

    That increases the chances that they will try to migrate again, she said.

    Adults are also stigmatised by their communities and refused employment, the report said, “for having failed in their attempts to reach and stay in the U.S’’.

    In some communities, girls, in particular, are stigmatised because there’s an idea that they have been subjected to sexual violence in the U.S. and are “somehow tainted”, according to Nadine Perrault, UNICEF representative in El Salvador.

  • Kebbi commends UNICEF for support in health sector

    The Kebbi State Government in collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund ( UNICEF ), have commenced review of challenges and progress made in the last six months of this year in the health sector and sought for more collaboration on advancement on nutrition among the people.

    Governor Atiku Bagudu, while speaking at the meeting said his administration acknowledges efforts of UNICEF in collaborating with the state government to address challenges in the health sector.

    The governor who was represented by the Secretary to the State Government, (SSG), Alhaji Babale Umar Yauri said the meeting which was also to interact on the way forward on implantable system which takes cognisance of multiple activities of UNICEF in the state is timely and commendable.

    He said the state Government appreciates the giant strides of UNICEF Chief Field Officer who within the very short time since his assumption in office has demonstrated exemplary leadership quality.

    Commissioner for Budget, Economy and Planning, Alhaji Muhammed Jelani Yauri, in his remarks, disclosed that the state government had resolved that all the Permanent Secretaries, Directors and Commissioners would be fully involved in all the UNICEF activities to ensure that government are carry along on the agency’s activities.

    Jelani noted that the present administration is working hard to implement economic recovery policy of Federal Government by reviving all the domiciled natural resources in the state to increase its Internally Generated Revenue and reduce dependence of state on international donors on health challenges.

    UNICEF Field Officer, Sokoto office Mr. Muhammedeen Fall said that the international agency is committed to supporting the government on challenges faced in health and education stressing, that the meeting was designed to provide solutions to challenges identified, transparency and implementation of agreement reached by stakeholders.

    In his remarks while speaking at the meeting the Commissioner for Health, Alhaji Umar Usman Kambaza, informed the stakeholders that UNICEF has done a lot for the state in the area of immunization and family planning.

    He urged stakeholders to engage in more awareness on the importance of nutrition