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| Every Child Summer 2009 |
My colleague Adam Fifield and I spend a lot of time writing about child survival issues. And most of the writing we do isn't for this blog—it's for speeches and publications that also play a major role in telling folks about UNICEF's crucial work. Our magazine, Every Child, probably takes up most of our focus. We may spend months researching and writing articles that convey the extraordinary range of what UNICEF does for children around the world.
It's that range—that scope—that keeps me perpetually impressed by UNICEF. At any given moment, UNICEF may be vaccinating up to a million children in Sierra Leone, getting emergency supplies to cyclone victims in Bangladesh, creating safe schools for children in Afghanistan, helping former child soldiers find work in Columbia, distributing hundreds of thousands of bed nets to protect children against malaria in Nigeria—the list goes on and on and on. Which means we never run out of things to write about.
Our latest issue of Every Child is hot off the presses. You can read a digital version by clicking on this link. The main feature for this issue—"Defeating the Top Child Killers"—focuses on the five biggest reasons 25,000 die every day: acute respiratory infections (like pneumonia), diarrhea, newborn disorders, malaria and malnutrition. It explores why these child killers are so lethal, and the far-reaching and innovative ways UNICEF is fighting them.
For this story, I interviewed UNICEF's Chief of Health, Dr. Peter Salama. He's endlessly knowledgeable when it comes to UNICEF's work to combat threats to child survival. And he has wonderful stories from his work in the field. Back in 2002, for instance, he was head of UNICEF's Health and Nutrition programs for Afghanistan. That year, he oversaw a massive health campaign that got child survival commodities—things like vaccines, micronutrients and bed nets—to 90 percent of all children in Afghanistan. It's particularly amazing when you consider how much of the country is not accessible by road. But volunteers traveled by donkey (thousands of them!) and foot to reach the remotest corners of the country. And the health campaign was a huge success.
In addition to the feature, this Every Child has an article on the crisis in Sudan, the story of a young woman looking after her orphaned relatives in Swaziland, a field trip account from Mozambique, stories by U.S. Fund for UNICEF donors like you, and more. If you've never seen the magazine before, I really encourage you to take a look.
Comments (2)
Children are our future. If we don’t take care of then who will. I am a doctor I see everyday how children die of those diseases. I thank UNICEF for such a great job in eradicating these problems. I hope I can do the same .
Posted by Jhumi | July 2, 2009 1:50 AM
Posted on July 2, 2009 01:50
I agree with Jhumi. If we, the people, can't take care of them, then who will. I belive that children of today builds the future and if they are not safe then our future is not safe. As I'm from Bangladesh, I found mmany of them suffering from various diseases and have no clue about the cure.We should definitely help them to get out of these things, they need proper guidance and advocacy. UNICEF has done a great job to keep the children around the world safe from all kinds of sufferings.
..::Thnx::..
Posted by Evan | July 8, 2009 4:05 AM
Posted on July 8, 2009 04:05