“We are delighted that Japan has responded so quickly and so generously to the urgent needs of Iraqi children,” said UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy. “The needs are very urgent and we are grateful for this strong and early support.”

Reactivating the primary education system is one of the most immediate needs in post-war Iraq. UNICEF has made getting children back into a school an urgent priority.

Most of Iraq’s 8,500 schools need repairs or clean-up, and another 5,000 need to be built to accommodate all of Iraq’s 12 million school-age children. At present, a shortage of safe school facilities and trained teachers force many schools to operate on shifts. Poor hygiene and sanitation in primary schools is also a serious concern; less than half of all primary schools have access to potable water.

UNICEF has begun delivering the first of more than 50,000 “school-in-a-box” kits to classrooms across the country. Each kit contains learning supplies and teaching aids to meet the needs of 80 children. When the deliveries are finished, UNICEF will have provided supplies like pencils, notepads and slate boards for some 4 million children in primary schools.

Japan’s latest gift will support education, helping more than 1 million children in three cities. About $3.5 million of donation will be used to help rehabilitate 70 schools– 30 in Baghdad and 40 in the south of the country. The bulk of the funds, some $6.2 million, will buy teaching and learning supplies.

Almost $700,000 will go towards teacher training to improve the quality of teachers’ skills by updating it with child-centered methodologies. Child -centered methodologies will foster an approach encouraging students’ active participation in the learning process, discouraging the outdated top-down approach which has been the mainstay of the Iraqi education system.

Other major donors to UNICEF’s relief efforts in Iraq include the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, Canada, and the European Union.

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For further information please contact :

Alfred Ironside, Media Chief, New York: (1-212) 326-7261; aironside@unicef.org
Kate Donovan, Media, New York: (212) 326 - 7452; kdonovan@unicef.org

In its broadest commitment to date to the UN’s humanitarian relief efforts in the North, the Seoul government has indicated it will channel almost US $20 million this year through the World Food Programme, the World Health Organisation and the United Nations Children’s Fund.

The aid - 100,000 tonnes of maize valued at $18 million through WFP, $700,000 for a WHO malaria prevention campaign and $500,000 in supplies to UNICEF for child health and nutrition programmes - is being provided in response to an urgent appeal last month by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Following a mid-January mission to the DPRK by his personal envoy, Maurice Strong, Annan warned of a major humanitarian crisis unless donors responded expeditiously to the pressing food and medical needs of the most vulnerable there.

“This very significant pledge by the Republic of Korea will help ensure that 3.5 million hungry people, many of whom had previously been cut from our distribution plans, receive cereal rations for up to three months”, said WFP Executive Director James Morris.

“The ROK is clearly signalling that it has seen what UN collaboration can do to improve the health and nutrition of needy children and wants us to continue the good work. We appreciate that, and we hope others do too,” said UNICEF Executive Director, Carol Bellamy.

WHO Director-General Gro Harlem Brundtland described as “crucial” Seoul’s contribution to the agency’s campaign to prevent malaria, which has resurfaced in the North after apparently being eradicated. She added: “Like other health interventions, it is as important an area of inter-Korean cooperation as roads and railways.”

The Republic of Korea pledges, the latest in a series by donors to the DPRK, bring to $72 million the level of funding secured by UN agencies, non-governmental organisations and the Red Cross movement for key humanitarian operations during 2003. However, that is still 68 per cent short of the $225 million required to fully implement their programmes this year.

Announcing the results last month of a survey showing considerable improvement in child malnutrition rates since the previous assessment in 1998, UNICEF and WFP cautioned the gains could be lost without continued, substantial aid.

The survey indicated that the proportion of young children underweight had dropped to 21 per cent from 61 per cent; wasting, or acute malnutrition, fell to 9 per cent from 16 per cent; and stunting, or chronic malnutrition, was down to 42 per cent from 62 per cent. But the underweight rate was still “high” and the stunting rate “very high”, according to WHO criteria.

“The recent commitments are very welcome, and very necessary”, said Masood Hyder, the Resident Humanitarian Coordinator in Pyongyang. “But clearly the crisis is far from over, and we sincerely hope other donors will step forward soon.”

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For more information, please contact:

Richard Bridle, UNICEF Representative, Pyongyang, Tel. +850-2-3817 234
Masood Hyder, Resident Humanitarian Coordinator, Pyongyang, Tel. +850-2-3817 284
Rick Corsino, WFP Country Director, Pyongyang, Tel. +850-2-3817 238
Eigil Sorensen, WHO Representative, Pyongyang, Tel. +850-2-3817 914

TOKYO/GENEVA/NEW YORK, 31 August 2004 – The Government of Japan is donating  more  than  US$  2  million  to  UNICEF  to  get  children out of orphanages  and  other  residential  institutions  across Central Asia. The announcement  coincides  with  a  tour  of Central Asia by Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi, which ended today.

Around  32,000  children  in  institutions  in  Central  Asia,  plus 30,000 families  that  are  at  risk  of  institutionalising  their children, will benefit  from  the contribution of approximately 235 million yen. The funds will  be divided between the five Central Asian countries, with US$ 444,000 for  Kazakhstan,  US$  379,000  for  the  Kyrgyz  Republic, US$ 369,000 for Tajikistan, US$ 369,000 for Turkmenistan and US$ 439,000 for Uzbekistan.

The  funds, from the Japanese Trust Fund for Human Security, will go to the UNICEF  supported-project:  “Every Child Has a Right to Grow up in a Family Environment”,  aiming  to  turn  back  the  tide  of  children  going  into institutions  in  these  countries.  The  Soviet  legacy  of state care for children  in  difficulties,  coupled with rising poverty, means that around 200,000  children  are  growing up in long-term residential care across the region  –  almost  84,000  of them in Kazakhstan alone. The major stumbling block  to  getting  them  out  of  institutions  and  back  into  a  family environment  is  the  lack  of  alternatives,  with  few  social workers or services  to  help  families  in  difficulties, few regulations on domestic adoption,  fostering  and guardianship, and the absence of proper norms and standards  on  child  protection. Meanwhile, new children’s homes are still being opened.

“This  contribution  will  help  to  create  a child protection system that focuses  on  the  best interests of individual children and families,” said Juan Aguilar, UNICEF Area Representative for Central Asia.

“Our  goal  is  to  help  families  in  difficult situations stay together, without   feeling   compelled   to  consign  their  children  to  long-term institutional  care.  And, in cases where children are separated from their parents,  we aim to provide alternatives that take a family-based approach, such as guardianship, foster care and domestic adoption. Above all, we must protect the right of every child to grow up in a family environment.”

The  project  will  assess the current situation, establish community-based social  services and centres to focus on the specific needs of children and families,  sensitise  professionals  and  experts  on this issue, boost the capacity  of  professionals to respond to children and families in need and at risk, and promote foster care at the community level.

NOTE:

Japan  established  the  Trust  Fund for Human Security in March 1999, with total  contributions  of  25.9  billion  yen (approx. US$ 227 million). The Trust Fund has assisted more than 100 UN agency projects to address various threats  to  human  life,  livelihood  and  dignity, from a Human Security perspective.

For more information, please contact:

Angela Hawke, UNICEF Regional Office for CEE/CIS, Baltics
Tel: (00 4122) 909 5433. Mob: (++ 4179) 601 9917,
Ikuko Yamaguchi, UNICEF Geneva,  (00 4122) 909 5727
Kathryn Donovan, UNICEF New York, (001 212) 326 7452

“In any emergency situation, children are the most vulnerable, said UNICEF’s Project Officer in charge of Nutrition, Maniza Zaman.”UNICEF’s key concern at present is to prevent avoidable deaths and illness among the many children affected in these areas”, she added. We are closely monitoring the nutritional and health status of the flood-affected children and are in the process of planning for a subsequent deployment of relief items,” Zaman said.

The drugs will be used to treat diarrhoeal diseases, water-borne diseases and malaria. The items will be airlifted to the most needy areas immediately, through the coordination of Kenya Red Cross and Disaster Operations Centre, Office of the President.

The donations were made following a coordinated effort, led by the Office of the President, to identify critical needs in the affected areas. A UNICEF technical officer is part of the donor/ NGO/government mission, that is currently in the affected districts.

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For further information, please contact:
Denise Shepherd-Johnson, Communication Officer, Tel: 254 - 2- 622977, or
Brenda Kariuki, Assistant Communication Officer, Tel 254 - 2 - 624555

In the poorest and most remote areas of the world, maternal and neonatal tetanus (MNT) kills an estimated 230,000 mothers and babies annually.  At a cost of just $1.20 per woman, UNICEF can eliminate these needless deaths with a safe and effective vaccine that has been available in the developed world for more than 70 years.  The vaccine protects mothers for up to 10 years and their newborn babies for the critical first few months of life.

“The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s financial commitment to the elimination of MNT will help save the lives of millions of newborns and their mothers,” said Charles J. Lyons, president of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF.  “Because of the campaign to eliminate MNT and the support of the Gates Foundation, as many as 15,000 lives are saved annually.”

MNT strikes when tetanus spores, found in soil everywhere, come into contact with open cuts during childbirth in unsanitary conditions. Within days, tetanus spreads throughout the body, causing spasms, paralyzing stiffness and arching of the spine. Eighty percent of newborns and mothers who develop the disease die from it.

“Infant and maternal deaths from tetanus are tragic, especially given that the majority of these deaths could have been prevented with safe vaccines that are available today and simple hygiene during childbirth,” said Dr. Regina Rabinovich, director of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Infectious Diseases program.  “MNT elimination is an achievable goal that will save the lives of thousands of mothers and children.”

An estimated 207 million women still need to be immunized.  UNICEF is implementing a three-pronged approach to eliminating tetanus:

Immunization - Three properly spaced doses of the tetanus toxoid vaccine protects a woman for up to 10 years against tetanus, and protects her newborn for up to three months.

Promoting clean deliveries - UNICEF is helping train health workers in clean birthing techniques and teaching communities about the dangers of tetanus.

Surveillance - UNICEF and its partners identify areas in which mothers and newborns are at risk of tetanus; measure the quality of immunizations and clean delivery services; and monitor a country’s elimination status and the sustainability of its achievement.

In order to achieve elimination of MNT worldwide by 2005, UNICEF needs to raise an additional $147 million.

About the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is building upon the unprecedented opportunities of the 21st century to improve equity in global health and learning.  Led by Bill Gates’ father, William H. Gates, Sr., and Patty Stonesifer, the Seattle-based foundation has an endowment of approximately $25 billion.

About UNICEF
Founded in 1946, UNICEF helps save, protect and improve the lives of children around the world through immunization, education, health care, nutrition, clean water, and sanitation. UNICEF is non-partisan and its cooperation is free of discrimination. In everything it does, the most disadvantaged children and the countries in greatest need have priority. If you would like to contribute to UNICEF’s efforts to eliminate MNT please go to http://www.unicefusa.org/mnt/ or call 1-800-4UNICEF.

For additional information, please contact:

Marissa Buckanoff, U.S. Fund for UNICEF, 212.922.2485
Laura Contreras, U.S. Fund for UNICEF, 212.880.9166

DHAKA, BANGLASESH - The Government of Japan has agreed to provide 103 million Japanese Yen (approximately US$940,000) to UNICEF Bangladesh for emergency water and sanitation activities, as part of Japan’s $5.9 million flood assistance package for Bangladesh.

“Japan’s contribution will make a significant impact in improving the water and sanitation situation in the flood affected areas of Bangladesh, and reinforce people’s preparedness for future floods,” said UNICEF Representative Morten Giersing while paying a visit to the Ambassador of Japan to thank the Japanese Government for the timely contribution.

The Japanese funds will cover the costs of disinfection, repair and replacement of tubewells and the provision of latrines in the 60 flood-affected upazilas in 14 districts. Japan will also support hygiene and sanitation promotional activities in the affected areas to raise people’s awareness on safe water and sanitation practices. Japan will support these activities in partnership with the Department of Public Health Engineering and various non-governmental organizations.

The Japanese Ambassador Mr. Matsushiro Horiguchi expressed his hope that this assistance will provide potable water to a large number of people, particularly children whose lives have been badly affected by this year’s devastating floods. He appreciated UNICEF’s collaboration with Japan in a wide range of relief and development activities in Bangladesh.

For more information, please contact:

Rezwan-ul-Alam, UNICEF Bangladesh, + 9336701/392, ralam@unicef.org

The drilling rigs, which cost an estimated 8 million birr each, were purchased through generous donations by the Irish Government, CIDA and DFID. Each rig is expected to last for ten years and will provide drinking water to a minimum of 500,000 people in each region.

“The wells these rigs drill will provide sustainable solutions to the water shortages these drought-affected populations have faced in the past,” said Representative Bjorn Ljunqvist, who presided over the hand-over ceremony Tuesday at the UNICEF warehouse.  “The rigs allow accelerated, efficient coverage and enable the regional water authorities to increase their capacity to the people who need it most, particularly vulnerable women and children.”

Annually, each rig is expected to drill 100 shallow wells to a depth of between 50-70 meters. Each well will be fitted with a hand pump to service 500 people in surrounding villages.

SNNPR already has one shallow well drilling rig in operation, which UNICEF donated during the 2001 drought. Hans Spruijt, head of UNICEF’s Water and Environmental Sanitation section, said that using these types of rigs will serve as a model project to improve drilling performance throughout the country. To date, UNICEF has donated a total of 17 shallow well drilling rigs to the Ethiopian Government. The Water Bureaus, with UNICEF support, will train crews, support preventive maintenance and provide timely repairs with spare parts already in stock.

Most importantly, the drilling takes place in clusters where 10 wells are drilled in one area instead of one per woreda (district) as has been done in the past. This reduces the cost of drilling per meter and per well as well as improving overall water coverage in the region.

“We have reports that up to 25 wells are being drilled in a 45-day period,” Spruijt said. “This stellar performance has been achieved because of the Water Bureau’s immediate response to emergency operations. Keeping the rig directly with the bureau has enabled them to respond where there is the most urgent need.”

Coverage levels for water and sanitation in Ethiopia are among the lowest in the world. According to official figures, 31 per cent of households have access to safe water, and 18 per cent of households have access to sanitation facilities. Access to safe water is defined as 20 litres per person per day within a distance of 1-2 kilometres. UNICEF aims at assisting the Government to increase water coverage from 31 to 40 per cent by 2006.

For further information, please contact:

Angela Walker Sampson - UNICEF Communication Officer  -  251-1-444400 or 515155, ext. 200  fax: 251-1-517111  mobile: 251-9-213308

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 19 October 2004 – UNICEF handed over two shallow well drilling rigs to the Government today to be used in the drought-prone regions of Afar and Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples Region (SNNPR).

The range of activities in which the Italian contribution will be utilized includes the following:

• Conduct immunization and hygiene education activities in IDP camps in Apac and Kitgum Districts;
• Install additional shelter materials to assist child “night commuters” in Gulu District;
• Conduct tracing and resettlement of unaccompanied children in Apac, Kitgum, Lira, Kaberamaido, Katakwi and Soroti Districts;
• Provide training in psychosocial issues for teachers in Apac and Lira Districts
• Transport formerly abducted children, from reception centres to home communities, in the conflict-affected districts;
• Procure additional emergency shelter and household items for distribution in the conflict-affected districts

UNICEF Representative in Uganda, Martin Mogwanja, said that the contribution from the Directorate for Development Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Italy was all the more important due the rising numbers of IDPs in the north and east – now at more than 1.6 million people, 80 per cent of whom are children and women.

“We are grateful for the strong commitment by the Government and people of Italy to stem the impact of conflict on hundreds of thousands of children,” he said.

“Every day in northern Uganda, children wake up to the debilitating impact of displacement and poverty, not knowing if that day will bring with it violence and abuse that can scar or even end their lives.  A commitment to provide the basic needs of children by the international community, such as the one being demonstrated by Italy, is required now more than ever,” he said.

In the past ten months, UNICEF has expanded and accelerated its response in the sectors of health, water and sanitation, education and shelter for IDPs, in close coordination with local governments in the affected districts, and with WFP, UN OCHA and NGO implementing partners.  Priority actions for the remaining months of 2004 include expanding the assistance for vulnerable and separated children (including child “night commuters”) in IDP camps, and expanding the programme to address sexual and gender-based violence, sexual exploitation and HIV/AIDS in IDP camps.

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For more information, please contact:
Chulho Hyun, UNICEF Media, Kampala 077 222347
Anne-Lydia Sekandi, UNICEF Media, Kampala 077 409016

kampala@unicef.org

Salah shared highlights of UNICEF’s Arabic Humanitarian Action Report (HAR) 2006, which is to be launched tomorrow in Riyadh. HAR provides an annual overview of the agency’s emergency assistance programmes within the context of UN-wide appeals. The report sets out the relief activities and the financial requirements of UNICEF for meeting the needs of children and women in several countries faced with violence, poverty, disease, conflict and declining social indicators.

This year’s report envisages funding needs estimated at US$800m of which nearly US$330m are expected to address the situation in Sudan, where 17 million people remain deprived of safe water and another 20 million still lack access to safe sanitation. Furthermore, a massive humanitarian effort is keeping the worst at bay in Darfur, while decades of conflict and under-development have led to dismal social indicators for Southern Sudan. Malaria, diarrhoea and acute respiratory infections (ARI) continue to claim the lives of over 100,000 Sudanese children under five each year.

Home to a diverse number of emergencies and long-lasting conflicts, the Middle East and northern Africa region is faced with growing challenges to humanitarian assistance amidst increasingly unsafe and life-threatening environments.

UNICEF’s funding appeal for countries in the region includes emergency response components focusing on the prevailing humanitarian crises in Sudan, Iraq, the occupied Palestinian territories and Western Sahara.

UNICEF’s Deputy Executive Director called today for increased international and regional commitment in the search for a more collaborative and sustainable approach to humanitarian emergency funding in the region. She also stressed the need for more predictable, efficient and effective humanitarian action, envisaging greater accountability of agencies towards the international donor community and the actual beneficiaries. “We have a much longer way to go in strengthening agency coordination, engaging partners in capacity building to fill gaps in critical sectors like disaster management, aid procurement and common services”, she stated.

“Ironically, the relentless series of disasters we witnessed in 2005 also highlights the importance of good coordination, emergency preparedness and systems of early warning. We are stronger when agencies and NGOs work in synergy”, Salah said, with reference to the growing number of disasters and emergencies in 2005.

She also commended Arab countries for their strengthened commitment and support to disaster management operations in response to the South Asia tsunami and the October 2005 earthquake in Pakistan.

The Arabic version of UNICEF HAR 2006 will be launched next Tuesday, April 11th in Riyadh, in collaboration with the Saudi Committee.

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For further information, please contact

M. Anis Salem Regional Communication Adviser UNICEF MENA-RO e-mail: asalem@unicef.org
Mobile: + 96279 557 9991

Wolfgang Friedl Communication Officer UNICEF MENA-RO e-mail: wfriedl@unicef.org
Mobile: + 96279 573 2745

“UNICEF is pleased to have engaged the private sector in promoting education in this country,” said UNICEF’s Officer in Charge, Francisco Basili.  “We are confident that our partnership with Orange/France Telecom will contribute to keeping more girls in school as well as to encourage other corporations to engage in the cause for children’s rights.”

While Madagascar is one of the few countries in Africa where hardly any disparities exist in primary enrollment rates between girls and boys, fewer girls complete the five year cycle.  They also face greater challenges in continuing their studies.

Funding from Orange/France Telecom will be targeted to those areas of the country where girls often drop out, either because schools are far, or because they are sent off to work as domestic servants or because they are married off early or become pregnant.

In these areas, in partnership with Madagascar’s government, UNICEF has launched a “Girl-to-Girl” strategy that links younger and older girls from the same village.  Older girls take the younger ones to and from school as well as help them with their homework and school life.  Parents and community members are actively encouraged to support these “mentoring” activities, which have shown to have learning and confidence building benefits for all the girls involved.

Orange and France Telecom will also support activities to promote sports and better literacy skills in the schools targeted by the Girl-to Girl strategy.

“We know that keeping girls in school has tremendous benefits for the girls themselves, their families and communities. This is why we were so inspired by this project when we first heard about it,” added Orange’s Director-General in Madagascar, Patrice Pezat.  “We have a corporate responsibility to the people we serve and particularly the next generation.”

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About UNICEF
For 60 years UNICEF has been the world’s leader for children, working on the ground in 156 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:

Ms. Misbah Sheikh, Chief, Media and External Relations: Tel + (+261) 33 11 892 83, msheikh@unicef.org