(IRIN) – A new report by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Egyptian government says the number of children living in income-poor households is increasing, causing poorer living conditions and a greater deprivation of their rights as children.

Entitled Child Poverty and Disparities in Egypt, and released on 16 February in Cairo, the report said Egypt’s economic growth in the years leading up to the 2009 financial crisis had not adequately benefited the nation’s estimated 28 million children.

“This growth has not led to a proportionate reduction in income poverty or deprivation,” said the study, which is part of a global series of UNICEF studies on child poverty and disparities.

Read more – http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=88203

(IRIN) – A measles outbreak has hit 28 of Zimbabwe’s 62 districts and is still spreading, but efforts to vaccinate people in some quarters is being hampered by religious convictions.

According to the latest World health Organisation (WHO) Epidemiological Bulletin, “Nearly 1,200 suspected cases were reported since the start of the outbreak in October 2009 … 221 cases have been confirmed … 50 community deaths have been reported.”

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) as well as other organizations in the health sector have embarked on an intensive vaccination programme. “The campaign is targeting all children between the ages of six months and 14 years,” UNICEF’s Zimbabwe spokesperson, Micaela Marques de Sousa, told IRIN. In eastern Zimbabwe, in the Buhera district of Manicaland Province alone, more than 25,000 children had been vaccinated against measles.

Read more – http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=88199

IRIN – Madagascar’s unresolved political crisis is causing havoc in its education system after steep cuts increased the island state’s inability to meet schoolchildren’s basic needs, bringing a spike in child labour.

A World Bank report published on 1 February, noted that Madagascar’s leader, Andry Rajoelina – who ousted President Marc Ravalomanana from power in March 2009 with the backing of the army in a move widely condemned as a coup – slashed the budget allocation for public services by an estimated US$200 million in one of the world’s poorest countries.

“The crisis, at both a political and economic level, is accelerating the erosion of essential services in the whole social sector, and the impact on children is severe,” Bruno Maes, Madagascar representative for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) told IRIN.

“We are seeing a minimum 20 [percent to] 30 percent decrease in the education budget; as a result, funds and materials are not reaching schools. The second impact of the crisis is an increased vulnerability of already poor families, which means that more children are having to work,” he said.

Read more – http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=88111

IRIN – Economic conditions in most southern African countries declined as a result of the global recession, pushing many more people towards greater food insecurity. According to a new food security update which focused on some southern African countries, food prices have risen and are still climbing in several countries.

The price of most fertilizers doubled in 2008 and continued to rise through 2009, affecting the quantity of crops planted throughout the region. High input costs prompted many governments to either extend their input subsidy programme or consider implementing one.

Here is a snapshot of food security in the region, based on an update compiled by the Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS NET), the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the UN World Food Programme (WFP).

Read more – http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=88014

UNICEF – “Significant strides have been made in the promotion of child survival, development, protection and participation in Africa,” said Mr. Saad Houry, UNICEF’s Deputy Executive Director, as Africa marks ten years since the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (Charter) came into force on 29 November 1999.

Today, 48 out of 53 African Union (AU) Member States have ratified the Charter. “However, the ratification of the Charter should not be seen as the end result, but rather the domestication into national laws and policies, as well as implementation of programmes to achieve positive and sustainable improvement on the lives of children,” Mr. Houry asserted.

Read more – http://www.unicef.org/media/media_51939.html

By Indrias Getachew

UNICEF – The weekly outpatient therapeutic feeding programme for children with severe malnutrition is underway at Boricha District’s Yirba Health Center in southern Ethiopia.

Mothers from surrounding drought-affected villages have brought their children to be weighed and measured, after which they will receive their weekly ration of the ready-to-use therapeutic food Plumpy’nut® supplied by UNICEF with the support of the European Commission’s Office for Humanitarian Aid (ECHO).

Read more – http://www.unicef.org.uk/press/news_detail_full_story.asp?news_id=1402

UN – Sudan is one of the world’s more dangerous places for mothers, the top United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) official there said today, calling for increased maternal care services.

Read more – http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=32729&Cr=sudan&Cr1

Despite the existence of inexpensive and efficient means of treatment, diarrhoea kills more children than AIDS, malaria and measles combined, according to a report issued today by UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO).

The report, titled Diarrhoea: Why Children Are Still Dying and What Can Be Done, includes information on the causes of diarrhoea, data on access to means of prevention and treatment, and a seven-point plan to reduce diarrhoea deaths. 

 “It is a tragedy that diarrhoea, which is little more than an inconvenience in the developed world, kills an estimated 1.5 million children each year,” said UNICEF Executive Director, Ann M. Veneman. “Inexpensive and effective treatments for diarrhoea exist, but in developing countries only 39 per cent of children with diarrhoea receive the recommended treatment.”

Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General of WHO, said: “We know where children are dying of diarrhoea. We know what must be done to prevent those deaths. We must work with governments and partners to put this seven-point plan into action.”

Read more – http://www.unicef.org/media/media_51407.html

UNICEF is deeply concerned about the increasing number of children affected by drought and hunger in the Horn of Africa. According to latest UNICEF estimates, almost five million children under the age of five are now suffering from the consequences of chronic food insecurity caused by prolonged drought and the impact of the continuing conflict in Somalia, which affects wider parts of the region. Since May 2009, the number of young children in need of emergency assistance in the Horn has increased by nearly one million.

According to UN data, some 24 million people in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Somalia and parts of Uganda now need food aid and other humanitarian assistance, up from 20 million earlier this year. UNICEF estimates that for the whole of 2009 some 500,000 children under five will suffer from life-threatening severe acute malnutrition.

The current drought has been caused by low and erratic rainfalls across the region with less than 50 per cent of normal precipitation. For countries such as Kenya it is the fourth consecutive failed rainy season in a row. The dry spell already led to enormous losses in livestock, increases in food prices and severe water shortages.

The El Niño weather pattern during the upcoming rainy season is likely to bring flooding in parts of the region which may cause additional crop failures and a further increase of water borne diseases and acute malnutrition. During the past months, Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia already registered more than 65,000 cases of cholera or acute watery diarrhoea, exceeding figures of the previous two years. El Niño flooding may also disrupt hard pressed education services in a region where already millions of children are out of school due to chronic emergency situations.

Read more – http://www.unicef.org/media/media_51409.html