Fieldnotes: Blogging on UNICEF's child survival work in the field

Maybe you received two of the same gift this Christmas? Or maybe you're using some of your holiday vacation time to clean closets and prepare for a fresh in 2007?

If you find you have valuable items that you no longer have a need for, I hope you'll consider selling them on eBay and donating a portion or even all of the proceeds to benefit UNICEF's work. Here's how you can sell your item to benefit the United States Fund for UNICEF.

Our best wishes for a happy, peaceful new year.

If you're in the tri-state area tonight, look up. In honor of UNICEF's 60th anniversary, the Empire State Building will be lit in blue. If you see it, please snap pictures and send them in to us! Visit the Empire State Building's official site to learn more about the colored lights displayed on the building.

New Yorkers, please also stop by the UNICEF Snowflake. Our Snowflake is a dazzling, illuminated crystal ornament found at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and 57th Street in New York City. Check out the photos of the Snowflake people have been posting on Flickr.

The UN General Assembly is commemorating UNICEF's 60th Anniversary today. Here's what the Secretary-General had to say:

"In the 10 years I have served as Secretary-General, I have been privileged to meet UNICEF colleagues all around the world. I have seen them do great things for children, on all continents, against all odds. They have given a voice to those children who need it most. The have protected children, and helped them survive and develop.

It is largely thanks to UNICEF that today, we understand better than ever that building a better future begins with children -- with ensuring that they are healthy, educated, safe and loved. When given the best possible start in life, children can grow up to realize their greatest potential as adults. UNICEF is dedicated to providing that gateway to a better future.

Over the six decades that have passed since UNICEF’s creation at the end of World War II, UNICEF’s advocacy on behalf of children has changed the international discourse, putting a human face on development. Each year, UNICEF’s flagship publication has borne witness to the State of the World’s Children, bringing the world’s attention to its youngest citizens. Campaigns for child survival, girls’ education and HIV/AIDS have proved models of a broad and deep partnership across agencies. UNICEF’s emergency responses have saved the lives of millions of children caught up in wars and natural disasters. Health programs have saved millions of children from disease, undernutrition, illness and death. Education programs have enabled millions to learn what they need to lead full and productive lives. Protection programs have saved millions from trafficking, sexual exploitation, violence and abuse. And today, UNICEF’s work to realize the rights of all children is at the heart of our efforts to reach the Millennium Development Goals.

If UNICEF didn’t exist, the world would have to invent it. As you celebrate this milestone, I extend my profound thanks to the staff and leadership of UNICEF, as well as to the National Committees for UNICEF and their Goodwill Ambassadors, for the wonderful partnership we have enjoyed. I know you will keep going strong for many such milestones to come. I will no longer be Secretary-General, but I will always your fan."

Thank you, Mr. Secretary-General.

At 9:25 a.m. tomorrow morning, representatives of UNICEF will ring the opening bell on the New York Stock Exchange.

We're ringing the bell as a part of our celebration of UNICEF's 60th anniversary.

I hadn't considered how HIV/AIDS impacts the world's children until I started working for the U.S. Fund for UNICEF this summer. Sure, I heard stats and saw charts about alarming infection rates around the globe, but I had never stopped to think specifically about the kids.

My colleagues (and yes, Oprah and Madonna too . . . ) have been teaching me about so many things since I joined UNICEF. I'd like to share some of what I've learned about HIV/AIDS and children in Africa since I started working here. I will awkwardly admit that until I joined UNCEF, I thought first about HIV/AIDS as a disease transmitted through sexual intercourse. I was initially uncomfortable thinking about how this disease hurts kids.

World AIDS Day is a call for me -- for all of us -- to push ourselves beyond this squeamishness and consider what we can do to stop the spread of this disease. We must consider the children. Every day, African children are moving into orphanages after losing their parents to AIDS. HIV infection is on the rise in every region of the world. Pediatric AIDS infection rates increase even though UNICEF has a treatment for pregnant mothers than can reduce the transmission of HIV/AIDS from mother to child. As the cover of today's New York Times reports, "sex abuse of girls is a stubborn scourge in Africa"

This pandemic threatens to reverse much of the progress we've made since UNICEF began 60 years ago, and it will not be solved until we break the cycle of ignorance and cultural barriers surrounding women's and children's rights. As The Independent reports today, "AIDS is set to surpass the Black Death of the 14th century as the deadliest outbreak of disease in human history."

Children need our help now. The world seems like such a smaller place to me since I started working here, yet I've found that HIV/AIDS is bigger problem than I ever could have imagined. This is one of our generation's largest challenges.

Yet, we can't allow this day to be entirely grim. I belive that feeling hopeless about this problem can allow us the luxury of not facing the problem head on. I asked my co-workers for some information I could share here about the progress UNICEF is making in fighting HIV/AIDS worldwide.

I learned that UNICEF has the unique capabilities to create systematic, long term change. My UNICEF colleagues here in New York City, in Washington DC and around the world are gathering government officials, tribal leaders, and friends of UNICEF like us to overcome misconceptions and superstitions. My UNICEF colleagues are testing children early in live and intervening with ARV medication. They are helping AIDS orphans to secure health care and food so they can stay in school --- this means they won't become the next victims of HIV/AIDS.

One more note from the field, as The New York Times reports:
Increasingly, African nations are openly acknowledging the problem, partly because AIDS has made children more likely to fall ill or die from sexual abuse . . . The impact is apparent in Zimbabwe, where a child rights group estimates that at least 2,000 child rape victims have died of AIDS since 1998. “ Literally for the first time in Zimbabwe’s history, child abuse is no longer a taboo subject,” said James Elder, a UNICEF spokesman.

We want to thank our generous donors for making this work possible.

I hope you will join me in doing something to mark World AIDS Day today. You could post a comment here and forward a link to this post to a friend, volunteer for an AIDS organization in your own community, or make a donation to support UNICEF's HIV/AIDS work.