Yemen: Attacks on water facilities, civilian infrastructure, breach ‘basic laws of war’ says UNICEF
Ongoing violence and attacks on civilian infrastructure in Hudaydah directly threaten hundreds of thousands of children and their families in Yemen, according to the head of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in a statement released on Wednesday. “Attacks against civilian facilities and services are unacceptable, inhumane and in breach of the basic laws of […]
Three-out-of-four South Sudanese children have known nothing but war, says UNICEF
Since South Sudan became the world’s youngest country in 2011, 2.6 million of the 3.4 million babies have been born in war, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) revealed Saturday. “As South Sudan turns seven, a seemingly endless war continues to devastate the lives of millions of children,” said Henrietta H. Fore, UNICEF’s Executive Director […]
UNICEF warns 5.6 million Lake Chad Basin children at risk of waterborne diseases in rainy season
More than 5.6 million children are at increased risk of contracting waterborne diseases, such as cholera and diarrhoeal infections, as the rainy season begins in conflict-affected areas of countries around Lake Chad, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned today. “The rains will further complicate what is already a dire humanitarian situation, as millions of […]
Botched Vaccination Kills 15 Children in South Sudan
At least 15 children have died in rural South Sudan in a botched measles vaccination campaign that saw people as young as 12 years old administering vaccinations, reports say. South Sudan’s health ministry on Friday blamed the deaths on human error. Health workers vaccinating the children against measles used the same syringe without sterilising it, […]
DR Congo approves Ebola vaccine to counter outbreak; UN-trained volunteers to educate local populations
To contain the latest outbreak of the Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) provided technical support to 145 volunteers of the Congolese Red Cross and community health workers to deliver lifesaving information to local populations in remote areas along the Central African Republic border. “Working in […]
400,000 children in Greater Kasai at risk of severe acute malnutrition, UNICEF warns
Deteriorating security conditions have severely disrupted life-saving interventions for children in Greater Kasai in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in recent months, putting an estimated 400,000 children at risk of severe acute malnutrition, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has said. “These children are among the most vulnerable in the country, and now […]
UN, Mozambique host first-ever forum to fight trafficking of people with albinism
United Nations agencies are joining forces with governments in Southern Africa in a push to strengthen protections for persons with albinism, who often fall victim to a raft of abuses, including maiming, trafficking and even murder, linked to the belief that their parts have magical powers in witchcraft potions. A two-day regional forum on preventing […]
Experts race against clock to quell Ebola outbreak in remote DR Congo province
A race against the clock has begun to contain an outbreak of Ebola in a remote northern area of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) said today. Twenty cases of Ebola have been reported in the DRC’s Bas Uele Province – near the vast country’s border with […]
Local Aid Workers On the Front Line of South Sudan’s Civil War
Gunshots suddenly crackled as Stephanie and her colleagues went about a routine seed distribution in a small farming community in South Sudan’s Upper Nile State. The moment she heard the bullets zipping through the air, the young aid worker knew the country’s civil war had caught up with her. “[There were] bullets everywhere. Rampant shooting […]
Meningitis – a Killer Disease Nigeria Was Not Prepared for
In February, the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, raised an alarm over the outbreak of Cerebro Spinal Meningitis across north-western Nigeria. The first case of the disease was reported in Zamfara State in November, 2016, but did not become a national concern until February when the NCDC said it got alerted. By then, the […]
