UNICEF: "Schools for Africa" project extends initiative

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UNICEF: Economic downturn affects children of Tajikistan

In addition to inhabiting a land whose soil is poor for growing, people of the Rasht Valley have a new harsh reality to confront the global economic crisis.

Up to an estimated 95 per cent of the region's income is derived from these remittances. But the revenue flow has all but stopped, as Russia, like the rest of the world, tries to cope with the financial downturn.

No one knows yet just how far remittances have fallen in the Rasht Valley. However, figures for the whole of Tajikistan suggest a reduction of perhaps 30 per cent; the figure in the valley itself is expected to be far higher.

The head of UNICEF's office in Dushanbe, Hongwei Gao, expresses particular concern for the valley's inhabitants.

"We would like to beef up our support to children," she says. "We would like to support more children, particularly in the Rasht Valley, because that is a region heavily dependent on remittances."

UNICEF has made a start by supporting a programme to reduce the incidence of goitre amongst the valley's population. Using a small testing kit supplied by UNICEF, a local doctor is teaching women how to test the salt they buy in the markets for iodine. Goitre is caused by iodine deficiency.

To read the full story, visit http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/Tajikistan_50397.html

Child labour interrupts summer in Gaza

Educating child stone-breakers in Guatemala - 22 Jun 09

UNICEF: Day of the African Child 2009

The Day of the African Child has been marked on 16 June every year since 1991, when it was first initiated by the Organization of African Unity. This years theme is 'Africa Fit for Children: A Call for Accelerated Action Towards Child Survival'. This is one in a series of stories on the theme.

MOSCOW VILLAGE, Republic of Congo, 15 June 2009 It is mid-morning, when a UN Refugee Agency boat docks along the Bangui River. The passengers a team of mobile health workers climb up the steep bank. Physicians from Doctors for Africa and other volunteers have travelled five hours to Moscow, a small village on the edge of the forest.

The health workers have come to visit the Baka, one of 15 indigenous ethnic groups in the forests of central Africa. For the Baka, like many indigenous people in the Republic of Congo, access to hospitals and clinics is practically non-existent. The visiting doctors offer vital health interventions, as well as access to birth registration.

The mobile health clinic, along with the birth registration project, is part of a larger national plan approved by the Government and supported by UNICEF and its partners to help overcome the marginalization faced by indigenous communities.

To read the full story, visit http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/congo_49998.html

Congo Sinks Deeper Into The Mire

Congo is sinking deeper and deeper into the mire. Despite incredible richness in natural resources, it has been plagued by internecine conflicts, poverty, unawareness, child abuse and slavery. I have little or no knowledge of what the government is doing, its ability or inability to prevent child labour. Hence, I will not write about the government’s strengths or principles until I research further. However, watch the video below, it is self explanatory.

The Child Workers of Afghanistan

Thousands of children as young as four are being forced to work in brick factories in Afghanistan. Some of them work up to 12 hours a day, to help pay off debts owed by their families.






Source: Al Jazeera