Ahead of World Food Day, on October 16th, UNICEF has released Part II of ‘From the First Hour of Life: Making the case for improved infant and young child feeding everywhere,’ a global report mapping infant and young child feeding practices. Part I, released on 29th July, focuses on breastfeeding; part II, released on 14th October,… Read more →←
Topic: Experts speak
Children in the city of Aleppo are growing up in one of the most dangerous cities in the world. Health workers in Aleppo are at the front lines of saving lives. The announcement of the recent reinstatement cessation of hostilities offers hope that the violence will be reduced, that children can be given a chance to live without constant… Read more →←
In the foothills of the Himalayas, many years ago, I met a small, skinny child labourer. He asked me: “Is the world so poor that it cannot give me a toy and a book, instead of forcing me to take a gun or a tool?” Another time, a child-mother from the streets of Colombia who had been trafficked, raped and enslaved, asked me this: “I… Read more →←
I have a confession to make. Promise not to judge me, will you? When I first heard about the ‘Day of the African Child’, I had no idea what it was. I know, I know, being a young woman from Kenya this is incredulous, isn’t it? Thank heavens for Google! Turns out it’s a day specifically dedicated to celebrating the African Child.… Read more →←
Going to work today I couldn’t help notice the normality of the scene. Parents rushing to get their children to school before the gates close. Yellow buses pulling up with older pupils, most of them excitedly, some a little more reluctantly, heaving their school bags down the stairs. Commuters scurrying into the warren of New York’s… Read more →←
Ruined crops. Dead livestock. More than 10.2 million people in need of urgent relief assistance. Six million children stalked by thirst, hunger and disease. This is the situation in Ethiopia, now facing the worst drought in decades. Few places more fully bear the costs of this crisis than the parched, rocky Afar region of Ethiopia, where… Read more →←
This year, more than 140 million babies will be born around the globe – a group nearly as large as the entire population of the Russian Federation. In total, there will be an estimated 2.2 billion babies by 2030, the overwhelming majority of whom will be born in Africa and Asia. What is in store for the first babies of 2016? Our 2015… Read more →←
With so much the world focused on war, terrorism and the plight of a seemingly endless stream of refugees, it is no surprise that the plight of Somali children has been largely forgotten. The last time the country was heavily featured in news headlines was nearly five years ago, when failed rains and failed politics led to famine. By the… Read more →←
UNICEF’s renewed pursuit of equity for children has two central meanings for me. First, children in the worst possible circumstances should always be our very first priority – as UNICEF contemplated our responsibilities under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted 26 years ago – this was one of our very first… Read more →←
Faeces (“poo”, “number two”, “doodoo”, “shit”) can kill children. Over 800 children under 5 years old die every day from diseases linked to inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene. That is like two Boeing 747’s full of babies and pre-kindergartners crashing without a survivor every single day, 365 days a year. This… Read more →←
