News from the Field
August 21, 2012
UPS Flight Helps Deliver Humanitarian Aid to Mali
A UPS coordinated flight delivered supplies from UNICEF’s warehouse in Copenhagen, Denmark to Mali. It is estimated that 175,000 children in Mali are at risk of severe acute malnutrition, a life threatening condition. If the order had travelled by ground and sea it would have taken 6 to 8 weeks to reach Mali. Instead, the water, sanitation and hygiene supplies reached Mali in a matter of hours, and will be used to fight the recent outbreak of cholera and curb the nutrition crisis.
August 21, 2012
Female Teaching Recruits Are Agents of Change in Rural Nigeria
Nigeria is training a whole new generation of teachers. They are all young women, recruited by the Female Teacher Training Scholarship Scheme, training to be teachers in rural states in Nigeria. They are also agents of change in an extremely conservative society. While most of the women’s friends in the village are married and uneducated, these new teachers are slowly breaking old traditions through education. The first 114 recruits graduated earlier this year and are poised to be sent to teach in primary schools in the coming weeks.
August 20, 2012
Aid Trickles Into Somalia's Drought-Hit Baidoa Region as Militant Group Moves Out
Fleeing from violence and suffering from food shortages, more and more people in southern Somalia have been coming to the Salameyidale Internally Displaced Persons Camp near the town of Baidoa. The town has become accessible since the militant group Al-Shababbd left in February. But with little medical care at the refugee camp, the Baidoa Regional Hospital, supported by UNICEF, is the only health facility in the area. With access to Baidoa opening up, UNICEF is able to increase medical care for children suffering from illness and malnutrition.
August 16, 2012
In Syria, Schools Become Homes and Support Centers
In Damascus and other cities in Syria, schools are hosting internally displaced persons who had to flee their neighborhoods due to violence. Some 307 schools are hosting displaced persons, each housing between 50 to 400 people. In early July, UNHCR estimated that one million people in Syria had to leave their homes since the beginning of the political instability. Despite the dangerous environment, in the month of July UNICEF and partners were able to reach 74,000 internally displaced persons, including 50,000 children, with humanitarian aid.
August 15, 2012
In Ghana, Fragile Newborns Survive Against the Odds
In some areas of Ghana, premature babies spend the first months of their lives tied to their mother’s chest, just like a baby kangaroo. The UNICEF-supported Kangaroo Mother Care program encourages mothers to wrap their premature and underweight newborns to their chests using a ‘pouch.’ Snuggled against their mother’s skin, the babies’ body temperatures stabilize, their heart rates steady, and they begin to breathe more easily. In regions where incubators are scarce and unreliable, Kangaroo Care has saved hundreds of premature babies’ lives.
