Women, children suffer most in drought
Across the Horn of Africa, women and children are bearing the brunt of drought-related famine and humanitarian organizations need additional funding to deliver lifesaving supplies, writes Caryl Stern, president and CEO of the U.S. fund for UNICEF. Children are susceptible to malnutrition that decreases their ability to fight off disease, while women are unable to access the services they need, as they carry the responsibility of caring for their families.
Indian authorities aim to increase breastfeeding rates
Authorities in the Indian state of Jharkhand have teamed up with UNICEF to sponsor programs associated with World Breastfeeding Week from Aug. 1 to 7 in a bid to raise public awareness around health benefits. Eleven percent of newborns receive breast milk within an hour of birth in Jharkhand and authorities believe that state can achieve the Millennium Development Goal to halve infant-mortality rates by 2015 with increased use of breastfeeding.
The U.S. must sustain pledge to eradicate polio
The U.S. government’s pledge of $2 billion toward the $9 billion requested through 2012 in a bid to eradicate polio is necessary, especially in light of the distrust sown by the CIA program in Pakistan that offered local children free hepatitis B vaccinations in an effort to gather DNA to determine whether children at a targeted compound were those of Osama Bin Laden. Vaccination efforts, like those of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, already have helped reduce infection rates from 350,000 in 1988 to about 1,000 last year.
Saudi cleric moves against child-marriage limits
Reformers in the Saudi Arabian ruling family and a senior cleric are on a collision course over child marriage after a fatwa was issued allowing fathers to arrange marriages for their daughters “even if they are in the cradle.” The kingdom’s Justice Ministry said this month that it would set a minimum age for marriage in an effort to help protect prepubescent girls.
UN summer camp for children is vandalized in Gaza Strip
Ten men attacked and vandalized a United Nations facility being used to stage summer camps for children in the Gaza Strip, a UN spokesman said on Thursday. Chris Gunness, spokesman for the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which supports Palestinian refugees, said the facility in northwest Gaza was attacked around midnight on Wednesday. “We condemn this attack, which is an attack on the children of Gaza as much as on the United Nations. We call on the authorities in Gaza to investigate and bring those responsible to account. Despite the overnight attack, the damage was repaired and kids at the site on Thursday evening set a world record for the largest number of kites flown simultaneously, Gunness said, putting “more than 13,000” in the air and beating the previous record of 10,465 set by China. Last year, masked gunmen attacked the camp on two occasions, setting fire to tents, chairs, tables, easels and other equipment. Muslim extremists were blamed for the attacks, as the view the camps as a symbol of Western corruption because boys and girls mingle freely.
Researchers take aim at infant-mortality rates
A solar-powered baby warmer and a hand-powered fetal heart monitor are among the 77 finalists hoping to win grants as part of the Saving Lives at Birth: A Grand Challenge for Development process to conduct clinical trials in the developing world. The drive to find innovative tools to decrease infant mortality is being supported by major donors, including the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the World Bank.
UNICEF to vaccinate 300,000 Somali child refugees
The stream of refugees from drought-stricken Somalia to camps in Kenya is being met by efforts from UNICEF to vaccinate more than 300,000 children so as to prevent a corresponding outbreak of disease. The two-week program to immunize children against polio and measles, while also providing them with vitamin A and de-worming tablets, targets four regions in northern Kenya.
Rising global suspicion of vaccines is linked to outbreaks
Public health officials are increasingly concerned over the growing opposition to immunization programs throughout the world. Anti-vaccine groups in both developed and developing countries are spreading fears and suspicions over vaccine safety, officials say, threatening the long-term prospects of eradicating diseases such as polio, and resulting recently in outbreaks of whooping cough and measles in several countries where people refused the vaccines.
