Category Archives: UNICEF

Syria: Lack of consensus following face-to-face talks, underscores need for broader process

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20 December 2019
Peace and Security
The second session of the Syrian Constitutional Committee, aiming to create a new post-war political road map for the country, failed to get off the ground due to lack of consensus over the agenda, the UN Special Envoy for the country told the Security Council on Friday.
However, Geir Pedersen assured ambassadors that there are lessons to be learned from the meeting of the so-called “small body” of the Committee, held in Geneva in late November.

https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/12/1054131

Nine children killed or maimed in Afghanistan every day: UN Children’s Fund

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16 December 2019
Humanitarian Aid
An average of nine children have been killed or maimed every day in Afghanistan so far this year, according to a new report from the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, which describes the country as “the world’s most lethal warzone”.
The report, entitled “Preserving Hope in Afghanistan: Protecting children in the world’s most lethal conflict”, accuses the parties to the fighting, which has dragged on for some 40 years, of failing in their duty to shield children from its consequences.
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Three million undernourished people in Asia-Pacific need to be lifted out of hunger every single month until the end of 2030 to achieve Sustainable Development Goal

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UN agencies warn on the state of malnutrition across the world’s hungriest region and call for nutrition to be placed at the heart of social protection programmes
10/12/2019 Bangkok, Thailand
Three million undernourished people in Asia and the Pacific must be lifted out of hunger each month from now on, if the region is to meet the SDG 2 Zero Hunger goal by the end of 2030, says a new report released today by four United Nations agencies.
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Universal Health Coverage will ‘drive progress’ on 2030 Development Agenda

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11 December 2019
Health
Last September world leaders at the United Nations endorsed an ambitious political declaration on universal health coverage, “reaffirming that health is a human right”, Secretary-General António Guterres said on Wednesday in his message for International Universal Health Coverage Day.
He called the agreement “a significant achievement that will drive progress over the next decade on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” and asked leaders to “keep the promise and ensure health for all is a reality for everyone, everywhere”.
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Failure to register newborns leaves millions ‘invisible’ warns UN Children’s Fund

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10 December 2019
Human Rights
While the number of registered births has significantly increased over the past decade, one quarter of children globally remain unaccounted for, leaving them vulnerable and “invisible”, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Wednesday.
UNICEF reports that the births of one in four children under-five, or some 166 million children globally, have never been officially recorded.
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Measles ‘misinformation campaigns’ through social media, fuel rising toll

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6 December 2019
Health
Measles deaths and infections in 2019 are set to “substantially exceed” last year’s toll when more than 142,000 people died from the preventable disease, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday.
In a warning over dangerously low vaccination levels and large outbreaks in several countries – spurred on by social media “misinformation campaigns” – the UN health agency insisted that anything less than 95 per cent coverage risked sparking an outbreak.
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UN team aids Samoa response to deadly measles epidemic

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6 December 2019
Health
UN teams are on the ground in Samoa as the country combats a deadly measles epidemic. So far, there have been more than 4,200 cases and 62 deaths, mainly babies, prompting authorities to declare a state of emergency on 15 November and launch a mass vaccination campaign five days later.
Simona Marinescu, UN Resident Coordinator in the Pacific island nation, reported that the situation remains critical, as the Government commenced a two-day shutdown on Thursday to ensure that all people who have not been vaccinated are protected against the highly contagious disease.
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Rise in Caribbean children displaced by storms shows climate crisis is a child rights issue: UNICEF

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6 December 2019
Climate Change
The number of Caribbean children displaced by storms has risen approximately six-fold in the past five years, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reveals in a new report released on Friday.
Catastrophic tropical cyclones and hurricanes uprooted an estimated 761,000 children in the region between 2014 and 2018, which also was the hottest five-year period on record.
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