UNICEF

World Immunization Week: Putting the last child first
Political support crucial to reach ‘the fifth child’ with vaccines
UNICEF reports one in five children still unimmunized and at risk

24–30 April is World Immunization Week. Immunization is a successful and cost-effective way to save children’s lives. UNICEF has been a driving force behind universal immunization since the 1980s – behind reaching each and every child.

UNICEF and its partners are now intensifying their efforts to ensure that the poorest and most disadvantaged children have access to immunization.

To learn more, please visit UNICEF.org

POLIO - Stories from the field - Pakistan
A Pakistani Madrassa teacher lives with polio – and works to help bring the tragic disease to an end

“I kneel before Allah. But I am unable to stand on my feet before any man.”

In Pakistan – a country where religious belief and polio eradication are often intertwined – Qari Aqeel teaches children the fundamentals of Islam and the Holy Quran. He also tells them, from his own painful experience, what it is like to live with polio.

As a teacher at a Madrassa in one of Karachi’s poorest areas, Aqeel talks to parents and children about the importance of vaccination from an Islamic perspective. Karachi is one of four main reservoirs of the polio virus in Pakistan and, due to constant population movement and insecurity, it is critical to the success of eradication efforts.

In this moving video, Aqeel takes the spotlight away from the politics and misunderstandings that can too often muddy the dialogue about polio vaccination. He brings the focus firmly back to what most matters: the heart-wrenching effects that polio can have on a young life – and the imperative that people all over the world come together to end this tragic and preventable disease, once and for all.

As a child, Aqeel so longed for an education and a connection to God that he braved pushing, shoving and being spit at by other children as he made his way on crutches through the streets of Karachi to learn at the local seminary.

Today, as a grown man, Aqeel might be speaking of his newly-acquired wheelchair, when he says: “Now, when they push me, I just go faster.”

Or he might be speaking of the struggle to end polio itself.

Learn more by visiting PolioInfo.org

Investment in children - the best buy in global health

As world leaders, economists and captains of industry meet in Davos to tackle the health of the economy, UNICEF is looking at economical ways of bringing better health to vulnerable children.

Check this out…the scenarios are, tragically, familiar in the world: A new mother bleeds to death because a health centre has run out of medicine; a child dies of pneumonia because there is no one to diagnose or treat her; parents are powerless stop their newborn from contracting malaria.

Of the estimated 6.9 million children who died before reaching their fifth birthday in 2011, almost two thirds of them died of infectious diseases, nearly all of which could have been prevented by low-cost, life-saving commodities such as medicines, medical devices and health supplies.

Watch this video and tell us what you think should and can be done.

FYI - you can read more here: http://www.unicef.org/health/index_67622.html

Here’s One For Ya - Did you know that Lao People’s Democratic Republic has one of the highest consumptions of rice per capita in the world?

Even the word ‘eat’ translates directly as ‘eat rice’.

But while rice is a rich source of energy, rice doesn’t contain all of the nutrients for adequate nutrition. An over-reliance on rice has left children here among the most undernourished in the region. Thirty-one per cent of children under 5 are underweight, and 48 per cent are stunted. Malnutrition affects both the physical and cognitive development of children.

Read more: http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/laopdr_66934.html