Hundreds of children gathered April 30 at the Atlanta Girls’ School to help launch the Unite for Girls Tour of the Girl Up campaign, the program of the United Nations Foundation that aims to empower American girls to help improve the lives of girls in the developing world. “Billions of girls around the world spend countless hours gathering fuel, wood, water instead of doing what all of you are doing today: going to school,” said Jennifer Redner, a U.S. policy consultant.
What to do to ensure babies are born HIV-free
As Mother’s Day approaches, Michel Sidibe, head of UNAIDS, is reminding parents of three steps they can take to ensure that their babies are born free of the virus — unlike the 390,000 children born with HIV each year. He urges people to become knowledgeable about HIV prevention and treatment; share what they learn with others; and support programs helping pregnant women living with HIV.
UNAIDS launches “Believe it. Do it.” action campaign
The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS has launched a campaign, “Believe it. Do it.”, aimed at bringing attention and action to the global goal of ending new HIV infections among children by 2015 and ensuring mothers living with HIV remain healthy.
Refugee numbers are worsening Sahel food crisis
The United Nations is expected to launch a new appeal for aid to the drought-stricken Sahel region of Africa after an influx of hundreds of thousands of refugees deepened the burden on governments struggling to feed their citizens. A photo essay depicts the circumstances brought on by the drought in Mauritania.
UN concerned for Congolese displaced by rebellion
The rebellion being led by renegade Congolese general Bosco Ntaganda has given cause for “deep concern” among members of the UN Security Council, which Thursday was briefed about the estimated 5,000 people — mostly children and the elderly — who have been displaced by the fighting in the country’s North Kivu province. Ntaganda is wanted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court.
Nigerian physicians protest wild polio outbreaks
Hundreds of Nigerian physicians and polio survivors marched in the city of Abuja on Thursday to draw attention to the rise in reported cases of the debilitating disease. “Each and every case of a Nigerian child paralyzed is embarrassing and, to us, that cannot continue,” said Muhammad Ado, head of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency. “There is no reason whatsoever for any Nigerian child to go down with paralysis.”