775,000 children registered in less than one year during unique campaign

KABUL/NEW YORK, 6 October 2003 - UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy, speaking on the second day of a visit to Afghanistan, today congratulated the Afghan Transitional Government for an “unparalleled success” in registering the births of 775,000 children under the age of one.

Bellamy offered her congratulations during a meeting with the Afghan Ministry of Interior which, in partnership with the Ministry of Health and UNICEF, has been spearheading the drive to register all children under the age of one by the end of 2003.

The campaign is unique in that it utilises the services of polio vaccinators, combining the birth registration effort with Afghanistan’s National Polio Immunization Days held throughout the year. Since May, vaccination teams have registered 97% of all children in the target age group, reaching every single household in the country.

Bellamy, who is on her third visit to Afghanistan, said today “The registration of each child creates capacity – the capacity for a child to enter education at the right age and the capacity to receive essential health care during those vital early years. And by registering the births of Afghanistan’s children, we can enable the Government and its partners to plan future services more effectively. This campaign is therefore a keystone in the development of Afghanistan’s children.”

“Many people would not have believed that such a success could be possible in a country still emerging from 23 years of conflict. The fact that the Government has made such progress in such a short time-span is a testimony to the commitment and resourcefulness of those involved in the campaign,” she said.

“The next step is to support the Government in re-establishing a routine birth registration system that will further enhance the protection of children in this country against risks such as abduction, trafficking and exploitation,” Bellamy added.

During the campaign, teams of polio vaccinators accessed communities across Afghanistan – often resorting to horses, bicycles and walking through difficult terrain to reach households. All children under the age of one receive a personalised birth registration card, containing key information including their name, age and family details. A second copy of the card is retained by the Ministry of Interior, with details inputted to a national database that can be accessed by central and local planners.

UNICEF, with financial support from UNICEF’s National Committee in Japan, has contributed US$500,000 to the costs of the 2003 campaign.

For more information contact:

Chulho Hyun, UNICEF Media, Kabul: +93 (0) 702 78493
Edward Carwardine, UNICEF Media, Kabul: +93 (0) 702 74729
Gordon Weiss, UNCIEF Media, New York: +1 212 326 7426

DAKAR, 23 February, 2004 – UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Harry Belafonte today appealed to African countries to redouble their efforts at registering births, calling birth registration a fundamental human right.

Fifty million births went unregistered globally in 2000 (out of 130 million). In sub-Saharan Africa, 70 per cent of births - 17 million children - went unregistered.

“For children to count they must be counted,” said Harry Belafonte during a visit to Senegal on behalf of UNICEF. “To deny children their legal documentation, their names, their identity is to jeopardize their very lives and to deny them a future as citizens.”

Apart from being the first legal acknowledgement of a child’s existence, the registration of births is vital to a number of rights including:

• Access to health care
• School enrolment from the appropriate age
• Legal protection from child labour, child trafficking, and other abuses
• Protection from early recruitment into armed services
• Prevention of illegal child marriage for girls
• Getting a passport, opening a bank account, voting or finding
  employment
• And the right to a nationality and citizenship

Belafonte called on governments to ensure that birth registration is compulsory, free, and readily accessible.  He also said that a copy of the birth certificate must be provided to parents at no charge upon registration.  He underscored the importance of providing opportunities for registration to even the most remote communities and families and called for greater access to the process.

“For many people, the family resources are sucked dry just trying to get to the registrar,” Belafonte said. “To then be met with a fee, with discrimination, with resistance is just appalling.”

The first regional conference on birth registration in West and Central Africa is sponsored jointly by UNICEF, PLAN and UNFPA, and brings together 24 countries to address ways of improving birth registration systems.  The conference builds on the work started with the launch of the Regional Campaign for Birth Registration on the Day African Child 2003 in Mali where all the countries pledged: For every child, an identity. National campaigns are carried out in all 24 countries in the region.

UNICEF has worked across Africa to facilitate birth registration programmes.

A concerted push in Senegal by government, non-governmental organizations, religious and traditional leaders, UNICEF and other partners led to the establishment of a national committee on birth registration.  Working in close collaboration with families and communities, excellent results have been achieved in “communautés rurales” like Fissel where 100 per cent of the newborns in the 28 villages in the community were reached in a period from June 2003 to January 2004.  In the Region of Kolda in cooperation with the NGO Aide et Action, officials hope to reach another 35,000 children though outreach in the schools by the end of 2004. In over 340 villages (representing more than 100.000 people) where the NGO Tostan implemented an education programme, all new-borns are now systematically registered. 500 birth registration officials, village chiefs, local development actors have been trained on birth registration all over the country.

In Cameroon, UNICEF helped register 2,072 children, while 5,458 other cases are being examined. An innovative approach has been launched in Adamoua province:

• community leaders identify a registration agent they trust and give him the
• responsibility to register all children at birth in all villages.

“To really know what progress we’re making for children, we have to know how many children we have to begin with,” Belafonte said.  “To provide services, save lives, and plan for the future, it’s essential that every human life be counted.  The simple act of counting is an expression of a country’s intent to take care of its people.”

Attention Broadcasters:
UNICEF b-roll on Harry Belafonte’s 17 year long career as a UNICEF spokesman and advocate for children for UNICEF is available.  Please order on:
http://www.unicef.org/videoaudio/media_15888.html

For further information, or to arrange interviews, please contact:

Kenya:  Denise Shepherd-Johnson
Tel: 254 20 622977  Cell: 254 722 719867

Senegal:  Margherita Amodeo,
Tel. +221 869 5842 Cell: +221 569 19 26
Minouche Alavo on Tel. + 221 644 3322

New York: Kate Donovan, UNICEF Media, New York,
Tel: 212-326-7452,

Traveling with Harry:  Oliver Phillips,Tel: 646-338-8720

Birth registration theme: 50 million born without legal documents in 2002. A continent celebrates its children; dozens of countries carry out events

NEW YORK, 16 June 2003 - UNICEF offices in dozens of countries are set to celebrate the Day of the African Child today, calling for the need to ensure all children are registered at birth.

In 2002, 50 million newborns were denied their right to a legal identity. Without a birth certificate, children have no official identity, no recognized name and no nationality. In later life, the unregistered child may be unable to apply for a passport or formal job, open a bank account, get a marriage licence, stand for elective office or vote.

In 2002, UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy said that birth registration is one of the most important pieces of paper a person will ever own. “If we do not get it right from the start and register babies, it is an up-hill battle from there on. Unregistered children lack the most basic protection against abuse and exploitation and become a more attractive commodity to a child trafficker, illegal adoption rings, and others who seek to take advantage of their non-status,” she added.

In honour of the Day of the African Child, UNICEF offices are coordinating dozens of events. The day marks a 1976 march in in Soweto South Africa, when thousands of black school children took to the streets to protest the inferior quality of their education and to demand their right to be taught in their own language. Hundreds of young boys and girls were shot down; and in the two weeks of protest that followed, more than a hundred people were killed and more than a thousand were injured.

To honour the memory of those killed and the courage of all those who marched, the Day of the African Child has been celebrated on 16 June every year since 1991, when it was first initiated by the Organization of African Unity. The Day also draws attention to the lives of African children today.

* * *
For further information, please contact:

Jehane Sedky-Lavandero, UNICEF Media, New York, 212- 326 7269, jsedky@unicef.org
Damien Personnaz, UNICEF Media, Geneva (41) 022 909 5517, dpersonnaz@unicef.org

PRESIDENTIAL PALACE, ANTANANRIVO, 4 June 2004 – For the first time in Madagascar, through the combined efforts of the country’s Presidency, eight ministries, civil society and international partners including UNICEF, the Prime Minister launched a national campaign to ensure that every child receives his or her birth certificate.

There are approximately 2.5 million unregistered, unrecognized children in Madagascar – about 30% of the total child population. The reasons these children – half of whom are above the age of five — remain unregistered are many and vary from a lack of understanding about the importance of registration on the part of parents to limited capacities in some regions to provide births certificate within the 12 days prescribed by the law.

EKA, the national birth registration campaign, launched today in the presence of the parliament, journalists and the diplomatic corps, intends to tackle these problems by waging a huge door to door campaign informing parents, authorities and children around the country of this unalienable right as well as organizing mass retroactive registration sessions.

This programme, which is estimated to cost US 5.3 million over the next three years, will also build the capacity of local authorities to improve the registration process.

“The right to a name and nationality is one of the first rights of a child,” declared UNICEF’s Representative to Madagascar, Barbara Bentein. “To appreciate the realization of a child’s rights in a country, it is important that at the very least that child is recognized as a human being.”
Misbah M. Sheikh
Communication Officer
UNICEF Madagascar
Tel: (261-20) 22 626 45/46
Fax: (261-20) 22 628 45
Mobile: (261-33) 11 892 83
Email: msheikh@unicef.org

New focus on preventing neonatal deaths needed

LONDON, 1 March 2005, Thank you.  I am very pleased to be here representing UNICEF and the committed individuals from across UNICEF who played such a key role in the development of this series.

In particular I’d like to thank Dr. Rudolf Knippenberg – seated here in the front – for his lead role in authoring article 3 in the series, and to Neff Walker, Genevieve Begkoyian, and Pascal Villeneuve, who contributed across the series.

Backing the leading contributions of these three are UNICEF field staff throughout the countries we are talking about, whose work on the ground with our partners and with governments and communities have added substantially to the knowledge base of this series.  Their ongoing work over many years is aimed at contributing real-world experience, observation, and knowledge to the global discussion, and I thank the Lancet and the Bellagio Group for initiating this series and providing a forum for the best knowledge and practices to be highlighted and promoted.

I have listened with great interest to my fellow panelists, and fully support what they have presented both here today and in the series itself.  I have just a few observations I would like to add.

The focus of this series on neonatal deaths is important and timely.  It is apparent from the data presented that the crucial first month of life, even the first week and first day, have been overlooked in global child survival programs.  The good news is that this gap comes to light as a result of gains being made in child survival after the first month of life.  Today in Geneva, for example, UNICEF and WHO will announce major progress in the reduction of under-five deaths due to measles – a reduction of some 38% since 1999.

But as this series makes clear, despite this type of progress in general under-five mortality we will not succeed in reaching MDG-4 without a renewed emphasis on reducing preventable deaths in the neonatal period.

This is a critical focus, and UNICEF’s strategic plan for 2006 thru 2009 places special emphasis on neonatal survival as a critical component of overall child survival.  Our strategy – which is being finalized by the UNICEF board – reflects the global consensus on what needs to be done presented in both this and the earlier Lancet series.

Simply put, UNICEF strongly endorses the findings put forward in this series and we are committed to playing our part in the recommendations set forward in article four.  In particular, I believe UNICEF will play an increasingly important role in helping governments develop the vigorous evidence-based programs and monitoring systems needed to attract new resources.  And we will play an important role in pushing all the players to focus on reaching the most marginalized and empowering local communities to help design, manage and provide feedback on new initiatives.

In addition to the excellent case studies the series presents on work in India, Madagascar, Ethiopia, and Sri Lanka, we have also been working for the past six years on packages of interventions in several West African countries that use the approaches outlined in this series.  Indications are very encouraging, with marked improvements not just in coverage rates for basic packages of interventions, but also in reduced mortality rates.  Those findings will be published soon.

UNICEF’s ongoing work in these areas, in partnership with the World Bank, WHO, and governments, is at the heart of paper three, on how to move from analysis to action.

The series suggests that roughly $4 billion would be required over and above what is now being spent in order to reach virtually all children with the full set of packages, scaled up including clinical care.  Getting there will take real time and investment.  But what our work in West Africa suggests, and what the papers make very clear, is that we can save as many as a million newborns with much less expensive interventions based on family care and community outreach programs.  Things as simple as prevention of malaria and tetanus; keeping the newborn warm: exclusive breastfeeding; and early recognition of illness and seeking care can make huge inroads with much more modest resources.  These are low-technology things we can do now, even in the poorest environments with weaker health systems.  And this is where UNICEF will be placing its emphasis over the next four years.

Finally, I’d like to say a few words on the importance of women’s health and empowerment.  While the focus here is clearly on newborns, the articles make it clear that the continuity of care from mother to newborn to child is essential to success.  And while we focus on health packages that strengthen this continuum of care, we must put equal emphasis on the overall status of women in many of the countries where the mortality rates are highest.

Articles one and three emphasize the need not just for good programs but for good overall policy.  And that means involving local communities, especially women.  It means in the short term empowering women with basic knowledge.  It means providing essential commodities for use at household level.  And in the longer run it means ensuring that all boys and all girls get a quality basic education.

For me one of the most striking statistics in this series is the fact that 60 to 80 percent of all neonatal deaths occur in children who suffer from low birth weight.  What does that tell us?  It tells us that the nutritional status and probably the economic status of the mother is poor to begin with.  She was not in a strong position to give birth.

Sustaining success in reducing neonatal mortality in the long-term is dependent on many factors, including our own focus and commitment.  But it surely depends on the empowerment of women – and that is not only a health issue, but a human rights issue.

I am proud to say that as part of its strategic contributions to sustaining progress over the long-term, UNICEF has made education for all boys and girls a vital part of its work.  As I said at the opening of the Beijing +10 conference in New York this week, some have called me a “radical feminist” for arguing that human rights and equality for all men and women have something to do with the long-term survival and thriving of all children.

So I am pleased to see that these vital issues have been highlighted in the Lancet series as part of the external environment – along with AIDS and conflict – that impacts our work – and which we in turn must seek to have an impact upon.

I thank the authors of this series for their hard work and vigorous commitment to the issues.  All of us who care about children are enriched by this excellent summary of where we are and where we need to go.    Thank you very much.

Alliance aims for universal birth registration in Latin America and the Caribbean

BOGOTA, 8 August 2006 - The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), UNICEF and the Organization of American States (OAS) announced a new alliance today to work toward ensuring free, timely, universal birth registration for children in Latin America and the Caribbean by 2015, with 50 per cent progress in that direction by 2010.

Joined by Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, newly inaugurated to a second term, the leaders of the three organizations gathered in Bogota to support the initiative, which aims to grant an official identity to millions of the region’s unregistered children who remain largely invisible in their own countries.

“This partnership seeks to end the economic, political and social exclusion of undocumented citizens,” said UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman. “When children are not registered, they are not counted and included in statistics. Without reliable statistics, we cannot have reliable programmes and services for the children who need them most.”

The alliance will strengthen IDB’s and UNICEF’s ongoing efforts to eliminate barriers that impede registration in Latin America and the Caribbean.  It will focus on regional and sub-regional initiatives to:

- Improve the collection and dissemination of data relating to birth registration;
- Support the modernization of civil registry systems;
- Link birth registration with other social services, including health and education, as well as citizen participation, essential for good governance.

“The lack of birth certificates typically leads to a lifetime of invisibility and exclusion for those working and living at the base of the pyramid,” said IDB President Luis Alberto Moreno.  “Basic identity documents such as birth certificates and national ID cards are critical for engaging in economic and productive activities and exercising citizenship rights.”

Although the region exceeds world averages in birth registration, there are considerable disparities both among and within countries.  For example, while Cuba (99 per cent) and Chile (95 per cent) can boast nearly universal registration, Haiti (70 per cent) and the Dominican Republic (75 per cent) are still a long way from achieving that goal.  In the region, it is estimated that more than one in six children who are born every year go unregistered.  Poor, rural and indigenous populations are least likely to be registered.

In Colombia, where the overall birth registration rate is over 91 per cent, trends within the country reflect those throughout the region, where registration rates vary considerably.  For example, registration rates among the urban population are 95 per cent, whereas 84 per cent of those living in rural areas are registered.  Children from ethnic minorities, those residing in areas affected by armed conflict, the internally displaced and refugees are among those who lack birth registration.

Overall, it is estimated that close to 2 million of the 11 million annual births in the region remain unregistered.

OAS Secretary General, Jose Miguel Insulza, noted that this issue goes to the heart of participation in a democratic society.  “The right to an identity is an essential requirement for citizens to be able to have a voice and vote in the decisions that affect their lives,” he said.  “Good governance is possible only when all citizens can participate in the benefits of democracy.”

Citizens who lack identity documents have difficulty obtaining employment, accessing credit, opening a savings account and inheriting property.  Voting and being elected to office may also be restricted.  For children, lack of registration can sentence them to a life of exclusion and invisibility by creating a barrier to access health, education and social services, while placing them at greater risk of abuse and exploitation.

***

About UNICEF

For 60 years UNICEF has been the world’s leader for children, working on the ground in 155 countries and territories to help children survive and thrive, from early childhood through adolescence.  The world’s largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS.  UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments.

For further information, please contact:

UNICEF:
Viviana Limpias, vlimpias@unicef.org
Marisol Quintero, mquintero@unicef.org

Inter-American Development Bank:
Patricia Rojas, patriciaro@iadb.org

The Organization of American States:

Janelle Conaway, jconaway@oas.org

OUAGADOUGOU/DAKAR, 28 February 2007 - A new film promoting birth registration debuted in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso this week as part of FESPACO, the biennial African film festival.  Produced and directed by celebrated Burkinabe director Idrissa Ouédraogo, the four-part series supports an ongoing birth registration campaign by UNICEF, Plan and UNFPA that aims to boost Burkina Faso’s low birth registration numbers.

The films show eleven year-old Samira who dreams of being a doctor and twelve year old Salif who would like to be a club football player like Samuel E’to. Each knows the dream unlikely to come true because neither has a birth certificate.

Speaking to an audience which included the Minister of Social Action and National Solidarity, as well as the Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralization, Joan French, UNICEF representative in Burkina Faso, said the birth registration figures for the West and Central Africa region were extremely disturbing.

“Only one child out of every three in the sub-region is registered”, French said. “In other words, two out of three, or 15 million children have no civil status whatsoever.”

French said UNICEF, Plan and UNFPA, had been jointly battling the problem of birth registration in the region since 2003, and in some countries remarkable progress had been made, following public awareness campaigns and a reform of the birth registration system. In Ghana, from 52 per cent in 2000, 78 per cent of births were registered by 2004. Similarly, Senegal registered 78 per cent of births in 2004, up from 60 per cent in 2000.

“However”, French continued, “the case is far different in Burkina Faso, where only 33 per cent of children were registered at birth, far from the goal of 75 per cent by 2009. It is our hope that Burkina and all countries in the region will not only reach but surpass that goal.”

Speaking on the occasion, Idrissa Ouédraogo said he believed that African film directors sometimes create too elitist a body of work. “We don’t take into consideration the local realities in which our people live, voiceless, because they have not been registered. A nation can only be built by all its people. Governments must act so that all children have birth certificates: it is the beginning of the beginning of everything.” With his film, he added, “I am trying modestly to contribute to the fight.”

French challenged the gathered producers, directors, cinematographers, and distributors: “Until now the subject of birth registration has been almost absent from your films. It deserves all your attention. Help us to show these spots; let them be inspiration for your own productions.”

She reminded the audience of the reality facing so many children in the region: “Children not registered at birth have no right to a nationality; they cannot therefore carry an identity card or a passport; they are denied health services; at school, they cannot sit for exams; they cannot be adopted; they are not protected against abuse or exploitation as regards work, recruitment into armed groups, or trafficking.”

“The children of Africa are counting on you to spread the word,” she concluded. “A birth certificate is a passport for life.”

Background information:

FESPACO, Festival Panafricain du Cinéma et de la Télévision de Ouagadougou, celebrating it’s 20th edition in 2007, is an important partner for UNICEF. The festival was inaugurated in 1969 and takes place every two years. It is the largest and most important film festival in Africa, screening 218 films during the week of February 24 through March 3, 2007. See: http://www.fespaco.bf/

UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, is an international development agency that promotes the right of every woman, man and child to enjoy a life of health and equal opportunity. UNFPA supports countries in using population data for policies and programmes to reduce poverty and to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is safe, every young person is free of HIV/AIDS, and every girl and woman is treated with dignity and respect.  More information on UNFPA can be found at: http://www.unfpa.org/

Plan Burkina is the local arm of Plan International. Plan works worldwide to achieve lasting improvements for children living in poverty in developing countries. Plan is a humanitarian child-centred organisation working in 46 developing countries, with families and their communities.  Founded over 60 years ago, Plan has no religious, political or governmental affiliation. See: http://www.plan-international.org/

About UNICEF

UNICEF is on the ground in 155 countries and territories to help children survive and thrive, from early childhood through adolescence. The world’s largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS.  UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments. Go to www.unicef.org, for further information.

For more information, please contact:

Chantal Lorho, Communication Officer, UNICEF West and Central Africa Regional Office: Tel +  (221) 450 58 16, E-mail: clorho@unicef.org

Modeste Yaméogo, Communication Officer, UNICEF Burkina Faso: Tel + 226 76 63 63 08, E-mail :myameogo@unicef.org

DHAKA, 3 July 2007- The Government of Bangladesh has officially declared 3 July 2007 as Birth Registration Day to highlight the importance of birth registration for every child and adult in the country. One of the main pillars of today’s celebration is to reinforce the message that birth registration in Bangladesh is free for the next year until 2 July 2008.

Presently the rate of birth registration in Bangladesh is around 7 to 10 per cent. The Government is attempting with the help of partners such as UNICEF and Plan Bangladesh to lift that figure substantially with its Universal Birth Registration strategy.

Rural Development and Cooperatives Adviser, Mohammed Anwarul Iqbal, formally declared the first Birth Registration Day at a ceremony held in the Osmani Memorial Hall in the capital this morning.

“Birth registration is now compulsory to get 16 basic services for every citizen. A birth certificate serves as a legal age verification document acknowledging the individual’s existence and status before the law, thus establishing every person’s right to an identity,” said Anwarul Iqbal

A year ago today on 3 July 2006, the Births and Deaths Registration Act came into force, allowing for free birth registration until 2 July 2008. The Act requires a birth certificate to be used as proof of age for a number of essential services such as enrolment in educational facilities and the voter’s list, and for obtaining a passport/driving licence.

“In a country where 82 per cent of the population lives on less than $2 a day, the cost of everything is important. That’s why we need to explain loudly and widely that birth registration is free until mid 2008,” said Rosella Morelli, UNICEF Bangladesh Deputy Representative.

The Universal Birth Registration Strategy provides for the registration of 0-1 year old children through immunization services and the registration of children enrolled in primary and secondary education through their respective education institutions. Moreover, the Election Commission has agreed to provide its database to local government institutions for birth registration purposes.

In addition, it also becomes a means of securing other rights such as access to services and state benefits such as: immunization, health care and education. For children, it becomes a protection tool through legal age limits such as in employment, child marriage, commercial sexual exploitation, children in conflict with the law and child trafficking. This data is also crucial for social development planning, policy and budget decisions, becoming a fundamental step towards good governance, which fosters democratic processes.

The meeting was also attended by M. Edward Thomas Espey, Country Director, Plan Bangladesh and chaired by the Secretary Mr. Safar Raj Hossain, Local Govt. Division.

The birth registration project is supported by the European Commission and the Government of Netherlands.

***

About UNICEF
UNICEF is on the ground in over 150 countries and territories to help children survive and thrive, from early childhood through adolescence.  The world’s largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS.  UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments.

For more information, Please Contact:

Shafiqul Islam, Project Director (DS-WS), Birth Registration Project, Local Government Division
Arifa S. Sharmin, Communication Officer, UNICEF, Dhaka, +8802 9336701-10/Ext. 442, assharmin@unicef.org

ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar, 30 July 2008 – UNICEF Executive Director, Ann M. Veneman, concluded her visit to Madagascar by launching a tetanus campaign in the rural town of Andilamena with the Minister of Health Dr. Ralainirina Paul Richard and local officials.

Despite impressive progress in decreasing child mortality rates, Madagascar is one of the only countries in the world - and one of nine in the East and Southern African region - that has not eliminated Maternal and Neonatal tetanus.

“Death due to tetanus is painful,” said Veneman.  “But one visit to the local health center, for a simple immunization can help save a baby’s life.”

Tetanus, which accounts for an estimated 5 to 7 per cent of all neonatal deaths, is preventable through a vaccination.   It is the first immunization that a child will ever receive as it is given by vaccinating the mother before she gives birth.

Veneman also launched an appeal for all families to register their children at birth.  An estimated 25 per cent of Madagascar’s children are not registered.

Many of those children will be left behind without access to basic health services and education.  A child without a birth certificate is more vulnerable to sexual exploitation, early marriage and child labor.

To better understand the situation of vulnerable children in Madagascar, Veneman met with young victims of abuse and exploitation.

“We want our parents to protect us so that we can go to school and we want the perpetrators to be arrested,” a young girl survivor of sexual exploitation told Veneman.

The UNICEF Executive Director also visited a community in the outskirts of the capital Antananarivo where the Madagascar Rotary Club had installed a pump which provides clean water for a community of 300 families.

“Water is essential to help achieve the Millennium Development Goals,” she said.  “Water is critical for life, for health and for food production.”

The President of Madagascar, H.E. Marc Ravalomanana emphasized to Veneman that improving access to safe water and sanitation is a key objective of the Government.

About UNICEF:

UNICEF works on the ground in more than 150 developing and transitional countries to help children survive and thrive. The world’s largest provider of vaccines for poor countries, UNICEF works to advance the Millennium Development Goals by supporting child health and nutrition, quality basic education for all boys and girls, access to clean water and sanitation, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation and AIDS.

About the UNICEF Executive Director:

Ann M. Veneman assumed the leadership of UNICEF on 1 May 2005, becoming the fifth Executive Director to lead UNICEF in its 60-year history. Prior to joining UNICEF, Veneman served as Secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture.

At UNICEF, Veneman directs a global agency of over 10,000 staff and annual total resources of more than $3 billion, funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of governments, businesses, foundations and individuals. Since assuming the position of Executive Director, she has traveled to more than 40 countries, witnessing firsthand the work of UNICEF, speaking at meetings and conferences, and visiting heads of state or government and other partners.