Fieldnotes: Blogging on UNICEF's child survival work in the field
Entries from Fieldnotes tagged with 'Myanmar'
Monday UNICEF photo: Myanmar
New year, new beginnings. Brand new babies, too -- all around the world.
Here is a Hteik Hteik Soe, holding her eight-day-old son in Taung Pet Village in the eastern Shan State of Myanmar.
Four years after THE tsunami
There's no way I can forget the date of the massive 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami: the tsunami struck December 26, which happens to be my birthday. The next day, my husband—who's also a journalist—was on a plane to Indonesia. And in the coming weeks, he would call me every day with vivid descriptions on the devastation. Bodies in trees. Boats somersaulted onto houses. Mile after mile of empty coastline where villages had washed forever out to sea.
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| © UNICEF/NYHQ2004-0886/Shehzad Noorani |
| SRI LANKA, 2004: Minhaz Haque, 15, guides his bicycle through the mud of his neighborhood, destroyed by the tsunami. Many of Minhaz' friends went missing and his family's house was wiped out. |
It feels hard to believe, in some ways, that the tsunami was (exactly) four years ago. I didn't work for UNICEF back then. But since I've been here, I've learned an awful lot about UNICEF's response to the tsunami and I am constantly impressed by just how many children we've helped in the aftermath of the disaster. In the early post-tsunami days, UNICEF stepped in to protect orphans and children separated from family members; supplied clean safe water, basic sanitation, and nutrition to children and families who had lost everything; and began to (yes, even in those very early days) rehabilitate schools. UNICEF actually took a leadership role amongst humanitarian organizations on the scene, coordinating water, sanitation, education and child protection efforts to maximize the efficiency of the overall response. (This is something we do a lot in emergency situations.)
Myanmar and the dangerous dengue
Something I've heard again and again from UNICEF staff who have spent a lot of time in the field: the truly tough work of emergency response often begins weeks and even months after the immediate emergency is over. This is partly because media attention has dwindled and the donations aren't coming in the way they once were. (Less money means stretched resources.) It's also the case because diseases such as cholera, malaria and dengue fever can get a nasty foothold amongst people who, in the wake of a disaster, find themselves without homes, proper sanitation, adequate nutrition or clean, safe drinking water.
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| © UNICEF/HQ08-0323/Adam Dean |
| MYANMAR: A small boy washes his hair with soap in the cyclone-affected township of Kunyangon in the southern Yangon Division. |
These days, UNICEF is working harder than ever in Myanmar. Recently, we've been worried about possible outbreaks of dengue fever there. When Cyclone Nargis blasted across the Irrawaddy Delta in early May, it left behind the sort of destruction that makes an attractive breeding ground for the dengue-carrying Aedes mosquito. Stagnant pools of water that collect in debris—scattered pots and pans, tires, bottles, ruined boats, plastic tarps—are like five-star hotels for these mosquitoes.
Dengue fever is a miserable disease. My cousin was unlucky enough to get it when he lived in Thailand. It leaves you with a fever, severe headache, muscle and joint pain, a rash and, in some cases (my cousin's being one of them) hair loss. The extreme version of the disease, dengue hemorrhagic fever, can be fatal. Dengue hits children and the elderly especially hard. There is no vaccine. And bed nets don't help because, unlike malaria mosquitoes which feed at night, dengue mosquitoes prefer to take their meals in the daytime.
NY Times features Caryl Stern
Did you happen to catch the New York Times interview this weekend with U.S. Fund for UNICEF President and CEO Caryl Stern? In the article, Stern discusses how UNICEF is the world's leading child survival authority, and notes how our access and influence enabled UNICEF to respond so quickly in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar and the earthquake that hit Sichuan Province in China.
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| © David Forbes |
| Caryl M. Stern joined the United States Fund for Unicef in 2006 and became the president and chief executive in June 2007. |
NewsNet: Child-friendly spaces for Myanmar's kids
It’s been nearly three months since monster storm Cyclone Nargis buffeted Myanmar, but the Southeast Asian nation is still reeling from the blow.
The cyclone affected 2.4 million people, damaging or demolishing hundreds of thousands of homes and thousands of schools. A recent report (PDF, 665K) released by the UN and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) detailed the cyclone’s colossal devastation—including the destruction of 75 percent of health facilities in affected areas, and the flooding of 600,000 hectares of farmland—and the continuing hardships facing survivors.
Last week, UNICEF warned that 700,000 children in Myanmar are still in need of assistance.
The best way to help us help children
Recently, I had a great conversation with Shanelle Hall, director of UNICEF's supply division. As if I didn't know it already, she really gave me a vivid sense of how many essential, lifesaving supplies UNICEF gets to children all over the globe, every day. In 2007, for example, we shipped enough educational kits to supply over 12 million children and 100,000 teachers. We procured 3.2 billion doses of vaccine, at a value of $617 million—that's enough for 40 percent of the world's children. But, as massive as these achievements are, we're always thinking about the children we haven't yet reached: children who don't have the tools they need to learn, or who are dying from a disease that 27 cents worth of vaccine could have prevented.
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| © UNICEF/ HQ05-1695/Josh Estey |
| INDONESIA: A girl holds a UNICEF school kit bearing outside her new school in Banda Aceh, capital of Aceh Province. The school kit contains workbooks, pencils, pens, crayons, rulers and sharpeners. |
You may have gotten an email recently about becoming an online monthly donor. If you aren't on our email list, you can read about it here. Regularly scheduled giving—where you commit to an ongoing monthly, quarterly or yearly donation paid automatically through your credit card—is a godsend to us. It makes it easier to sustain those programs that kids around the world need so badly. Because there are always new babies to vaccinate, and there are always children who want and need to learn. Scheduled giving also saves us tons of money on fundraising, which means more money going straight to helping kids. And it means we're not sending you regular paper mailings, asking you to renew a pledge (this, of course, has the added bonus of saving trees).
Fashion meets philanthropy
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Those fun, fashion-forward folks at Bravo TV have come up with a unique celebrity dress auction benefitting UNICEF. Right now, when you buy a dress at Bravo TV's online charity auction, you'll be helping UNICEF's relief efforts in Myanmar.
Imagine owning a dress that was worn by a celebrity on Bravo's "A-List Awards" show, which aired on June 12. The dresses were all designed by contestants on Bravo's hit show "Project Runway."
All proceeds from the auction will go to UNICEF's relief work in Myanmar. So you'll not only get a fashion original, you'll be helping save children's lives as well.
Go to http://bravo.auction.seenon.com to start bidding. But hurry! The auction ends on June 19.
Back to school despite all obstacles in Myanmar
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| © © UNICEF/HQ08-0563/Win Naing |
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| © © UNICEF/HQ08-0559/Win Naing |
Zack helps children of Myanmar
Since Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar earlier this month, we've been getting reports from across the United States of people moved to action. Here's one that especially inspired us: Five-year-old Zack, with a little help from his mother Isla, created a...
UNICEF and emergencies
The Myanmar cyclone and the China earthquake. It's very unusual for two natural disasters of such massive scale to occur within such a small window of time. Luckily, UNICEF is used to dealing with more than one emergency at once, while also ensuring that none of the ongoing programs in more than 150 countries where we work in suffer. I guess you could say we're very good at multi-tasking on a global level.
UNICEF in Myanmar — Before, during and after
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| © UNICEF Myanmar/2008/Win Naing | |
| UNICEF staff travel to a remote village in western Ayeyarwady Division. |
When the cyclone struck Myanmar last week, many of the worst-hit areas were unreachable by road. Plus, there was the problem of getting permission to enter the country. A lot of relief organizations were turned away or had to wait for government-issued visas, a long process when time is critical. But not UNICEF. UNICEF didn’t need special entry because it’s been in Myanmar since 1950. So when it came time to respond, UNICEF was ready with 130 staff members and pre-stocked emergency supplies inside the country.
Myanmar: What we're doing and how you can help
We've had an incredibly supportive response to the work we are doing in Myanmar right now. As mentioned in this situation report, UNICEF has been a presence in the country since 1950, and UNICEF's staff on the ground there has been working exhausting days and long nights to get help to the children and families affected by the cyclone.
Some of you have left comments on the blog asking how you can go to Myanmar with UNICEF and volunteer there in person. First off, thank you for feeling so passionately about both wanting to help, and wanting to be part of UNICEF's efforts there. It says a lot. Unfortunately, for a whole host of reasons, we're not able to place volunteers overseas as part of our programs. We do work with volunteers who come to us through the United Nations Volunteer Program. This program is very much like the Peace Corps and it requires specialized skills and a long-term time commitment. If it sounds like something you'd like to pursue, I encourage you to check out the UN Volunteer Program website.
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| © UNICEF/ HQ08-0368 |
| A woman holds her child amid the debris of their village in Kawhmu Township of Myanmar. The child's face is smudged with thanaka—a paste made of ground wood which women and children in Myanmar have used for over 2000 years to cool down, decorate their skin, and protect themselves from sunburn. |
Celebrities appeal for Myanmar relief
Téa Leoni, Ben Stiller, Nicole Ritchie and Joel Madden have recorded public service announcements in support of UNICEF's relief efforts in Myanmar. We've posted all of them to our YouTube channel (http://youtube.com/unicefusa), where we're continuing to post video updates on the Cyclone Nargis emergency response.
Images from inside Myanmar
The situation for children continues to worsen in Myanmar as thousands of children have been separated from their families, many more are living in desperate conditions in relief camps, and some are drinking water from ponds covered with dead bodies.
Below, a collects wood near the carcass of a cow killed by the cyclone, some 50 kilometres south-west of the township of Kunyangon. As bodies decompose, the water supply is further contaminated.
Honor Moms by helping others
Tomorrow is Mother's Day, but its not too late to honor that special woman in your life with with gifts that will make a lasting impression—UNICEF Inspired Gifts.
NewsNet: Headed to Angola and Swaziland
Greetings news buffs! My NewsNet posts will be on hiatus for a few weeks while I travel to Angola and Swaziland on U.S. Fund field visits. I’ll be accompanied by additional U.S. Fund staff, among others, on both trips. I...
Help UNICEF's Myanmar relief effort
UNICEF is racing against time to save kids' lives in Myanmar.
A great way to show your support is to pick up one of our badges or banners to display on your blog or website.
UNICEF's emergency work in Myanmar continues
As you know, UNICEF began responding within a day of the disaster, drawing on pre-positioned emergency medical supplies. Here's a quick recap of what's been delivered to date:
- 6,000 ORS, 1,500 water guards, 10 essential drug kits (to cover 5,000 people per kit), 20 first aid kits, 270 tarpaulins, 1 bleaching drum and 300 family kits to Laputta, Irrawady division
- 5,000 ORS, 5,000 water guards, 10 drug kits, 20 first aid kits, 100 tarpaulins and 1 bleaching drum to Mawlemyine Kyun, Irrawaddy division.
Children at risk, UNICEF responding in Myanmar
Reports coming out of Myanmar are increasingly grim. Fatalities are likely to be in the tens of thousands, and the affected population more than 1 million.
UNICEF is taking the lead in water and sanitation, as children under 5 are particularly vulnerable to water-borne diseases in the aftermath of a natural disaster.
Death toll rising in Myanmar
The numbers coming out of Myanmar (as high as 10,000 according to the foreign minister referenced in the New York Times) make Friday's cyclone the world's deadliest storm since a 1999 cyclone in India.
An estimated 100,000 people--many of them children--are now homeless. Their most urgent needs are plastic sheeting for shelter, water purification tablets, cooking sets, bed nets, emergency health kits and food.
UNICEF has been working continuously in Myanmar since 1950, and will take the lead in addressing children's needs in this crisis.
If you would like to make a donation in support of these efforts, click here.
UNICEF on the ground in Myanmar
Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar over the weekend, killing hundreds and leaving thousands homeless. UNICEF has staff on the ground and supplies pre-positioned to help children and families.
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Welcome to Fieldnotes. Blogging gives us the ability to quickly report from the field, alert you to media coverage of interest, and share the success of UNICEF's lifesaving work around the globe.
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