GUINEA: Shoring up children’s health amid turmoil
Some 1.6 million children throughout Guinea are receiving vaccinations, nutritional supplements and mosquito nets in a bid by UNICEF and the Health Ministry to shore up children’s health, which experts say has been hit hard by unrest in recent years. After some progress in the late 1990s and early 2000s child health in Guinea has deteriorated in recent years, due in part to the socio-economic and political turmoil, according to UNICEF Guinea representative Julien Harneis.
Experts: AIDS cases stabilize, except in sub-Saharan
Despite growing infection rates in sub-Saharan Africa, the number of people worldwide with HIV has remained nearly unchanged during the past two years. Scientists estimate the global epidemic likely peaked in 1996 and that powerful anti-AIDS drugs have helped to stem its mortality. About 72% of the 2.7 million new HIV infections take place in sub-Saharan Africa.
China executes 2 men for producing, selling toxic milk
Two men were executed in China for their part in producing and selling milk and milk powder contaminated with the industrial chemical melamine. Six babies died and 300,000 children became ill last year from the tainted milk. Nearly two dozen companies were implicated in the scandal and 21 people were convicted.
Mass yellow fever vaccination drive launches in West Africa
Benin, Liberia and Sierra Leone are witnessing the largest immunization drive in history as groups strive to inoculate 12 million people against yellow fever in West Africa. Health officials say some 30,000 people worldwide die each year from the disease, which is transmitted by mosquitoes.
UN celebrates 20 years of children’s rights
Signed in 1989 by every UN member nation but the U.S. and Somalia, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child guarantees children to the right to life, education and protection from abuse. Since the advent of the treaty — which enjoys the widest support of any international treaty — some 30% more children live beyond 5 years old, while 80% more children attend primary school.
UN: Afghanistan tops the world in infant mortality
Growing insecurity, endemic childhood diseases and lack of access to medical services and water combine to make Afghanistan the worst country in the world to be born, UNICEF said on the launch of its 2009 State of the World’s Children report. Afghanistan has the world’s highest infant-mortality rate, and nearly half of the country is off limits to aid and medical workers.
Biggest child killers on bottom of global health agenda
Donor shifts toward funding efforts to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS and malaria have diminished attempts to tackle the biggest killers of children younger than 5 years old. Diarrhea and pneumonia kill an estimated 3.5 million children a year, more than HIV/AIDS and malaria combined.
Indian girls reject child marriages
Working with aid agencies in some of the nation’s poorest regions, the Indian government is establishing schools for child workers to educate them on their rights regarding child marriages, an outlawed custom that still is widely practiced. Impoverished families avail themselves of the custom to alleviate the financial burden associated with children, among whom half of all girls are married before the age of 18.
SOMALIA: Mass exodus as militia takes control of southern town
Somalia’s Islamist Al-Shabab militia group has taken control of the southern town of Afmadow, 620km south of the capital Mogadishu, causing hundreds of families to flee in fear of violence. Conflict and drought have led to the worst humanitarian crisis the country has faced in nearly two decades. An estimated 3.6 million – almost half the total population – need aid, according to the UN. The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) estimates that the numbers displaced in fighting between government forces and the two Islamist insurgent groups has reached more than 1.5 million.
