Tagged "Haiti"

UNICEF Spotlight: Mia Farrow; Heidi Klum; Shakira and Gerard Piqué

UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Mia Farrow visited Lebanon to meet with some of the estimated 200,000 Syrian refugees living in host communities throughout the country.

UNICEF Supporter Heidi Klum visits the hospital at the State University of Haiti, where she learned about Kangaroo Care, a practice that encourages skin to skin contact for premature babies.

Congratulations to UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Shakira and Gerard Pique on the birth of their son, Milan Piqué Mebarak. UNICEF wishes them all the best!

http://www.unicef.org/

Meet Jerry Eduard…pictured here in his school in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

Jerry is 7 and wants to grow up to be a UNICEF employee. We have some good news for Jerry and children in Haiti today.

A national survey shows that 77% of children aged 6-11 attended primary school in 2012, compared to less than 50% in 2005-2006. Here’s to Jerry and all the children of Haiti working toward their dreams!

More on the progress Haiti has made since the earthquake in 2010 and the challenges which remain: http://uni.cf/11jhDNB

VIDEO REPORT: In Haiti, a project that brings mobile libraries to the most vulnerable neighbourhoods opens minds - and connects children to their community, and to the world.

Learn more: http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/haiti_66400.html

VIDEO REPORT: New school year brings new school

In Haiti, UNICEF is supporting the Government to provide the greatest possible number of children with free quality education.

A baby is weighed in a sling-scale at a UNICEF-supported baby-friendly tent in Cité L’Eternel, a slum in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Baby-friendly spaces offer nutrition counselling, food and medicine, and a safe place for mothers to breastfeed.

http://www.unicef.org

CAN YOU SEE ME? Marie - Age 8

Marie [NAME CHANGED] and her younger brother have lived for a month in a UNICEF-supported centre that provides temporary care for trafficked children, in the city of Ouanaminthe, Haiti. They were abandoned in the woods by the man accompanying them when they were spotted trying to cross illegally into the Dominican Republic. Authorities are trying to find their parents, but they have little information thus far.

©UNICEF/Marco Dormino

To see more: www.unicef.org/photography

PHOTO OF THE WEEK: 10 July 2012

A Haitian boy looks for shoe-shine customers in Dajabón, Dominican Republic.

Many Haitians, including children, cross into the Dominican Republic in an attempt to escape poverty, but the risks are also great. An estimated 2,000 Haitian children are trafficked across the border annually. For those who cross willingly, opportunities for any sort of work are few. UNICEF supports efforts to prevent child trafficking and to educate communities about its risks to their children.

©UNICEF/Marco Dormino

To learn more: www.unicef.org/photography

A boy holds a basketball at the Lakou Centre, a UNICEF-assisted foster care facility for street children in the Carrefour Feuille area of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Each day about 200 children come to the centre to play and have a safe space to gather.

UNICEF supports the provision of medical and psychosocial support to street children including: HIV/AIDS prevention, testing, treatment, counseling and peer education; reintegration of vulnerable children through schooling and life skills training; and the training of social workers and other facilitators to assist vulnerable children.

http://www.unicef.org

CAN YOU SEE ME?

Edeline Jean (age 7), on the foundation of her new school.

Since the 2010 earthquake in Haiti destroyed Edeline Jean’s school, she has attended classes in a semi-enclosed makeshift structure on the school grounds. “I have to walk a lot to get to school, but it is not too difficult,” she said. UNICEF is currently building an earthquake- and hurricane-resistant school for her and approximately 400 other children, in North Department.

To learn more: www.unicef.org/photography

A girl stands in front of a broken chalkboard at a school in Pyechal, a mountainside village in the Department of Sud-Est, Haiti. She participated in a UNICEF-supported programme to promote local, sustainable solutions for improved sanitation to prevent the spread of diseases and illnesses, such as cholera and diarrhoea.

Haiti and its approximately 4.3 million children continue to recover from the 12 January 2010 earthquake. Progress has been substantial: a new national government is in place; about half of the mounds of rubble have been cleared; almost two thirds of those displaced by the quake have moved out of crowded camps; and the country’s health, education and other core services are being rebuilt on a stronger foundation. Still, the country remains a fragile and impoverished state, requiring international support. Working with multiple international and national partners, UNICEF continues to address the emergency needs of children, while focusing on building the Government’s capacity to uphold and sustain children’s rights.