Fieldnotes: Blogging on UNICEF's child survival work in the field
Entries from Fieldnotes tagged with 'child survival'
Following Canada's lead on child survival at G8
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President Obama just returned from the annual G8 Summit, held this year in Canada. In past years, these G8 summits paid lip service to the need to address high child mortality rates - but never made specific, substantial commitments to help save the lives of more than eight million children under five who die every year from preventable causes.
This year, though, the Canadian Government decided to make newborn, child, and maternal health the legacy initiative of Canada's G8 presidency. UNICEF worked with the Canadian Government in crafting the "G8 Muskoka Initiative on Maternal, Newborn and Under-Five Child Health," which focuses on training health workers to provide a basket of low-cost, high-impact health and nutrition interventions to the poorest children and mothers in the communities where they live.
It is an important initiative, and one we believe that the U.S. Government should support. Just before the G8 launched this year, the U.S. Fund for UNICEF's President and CEO, Caryl Stern, led a letter from several major NGOs urging President Obama to support the Canadian initiative - and to show its support by doubling U.S. Government resources to save children's lives.
It's all part of our work, from grade school kids to the most powerful person on the planet, to get to Zero.
Team UNICEF runner slots going fast
UNICEF has partnered with the 2010 ING New York City Marathon as an opportunity to build a new outreach and fundraising strategy. Members of Team UNICEF are active citizens running toward the day when zero children die from preventable causes, an attainable goal by which UNICEF offers the strength, knowledge, reach and efficiency to get it done. The members of Team UNICEF believe that zero preventable deaths is the finish line.
Youth sacrificing to help youth
Martin Rendón is the Vice President for Public Policy & Advocacy at the U.S. Fund for UNICEF.
With schools across the country emptying out for Summer Break, our Nation's Capital now is flooded with thousands of students who are touring the sights. Among them was an outstanding group of State College Area School District students from Pennsylvania.
The students were in LifeLink PSU, a program for 18- to 21-year-olds with special needs. In partnership with Penn State University, LifeLink helps these young people in the "Wild Dream Team" transition to adult responsibilities.
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| © U.S. Fund for UNICEF |
| The Wild Dream Team and Teri Lindner, LifeLink PSU Executive Director presenting a check to UNICEF USA's Martin Rendon, Vice President, Office of Public Policy and Advocacy. |
The Wild Dream Team students of LifeLink PSU had been raising funds earlier this year for a planned trip to the Bahamas. But when the earthquake struck Haiti in January, they decided to redirect the money to help the children of Haiti. Through their hard work and persistence, they raised $20,000 for Haitian relief.
We are deeply honored they chose to contribute this money to UNICEF's efforts in Haiti. It was an uplifting example of youth in the United States sacrificing to help the youth of Haiti.
I met the students during their visit to Washington at the Lincoln Memorial for a ceremony to accept their check for Haitian relief. On behalf of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF, I saluted them for their sacrifice and compassion for others - cherished characteristics of the American spirit. In the shadow of the statue of President Lincoln, I encouraged them to continue as good citizens to share their concerns for the children of the world with our country's leaders.
May the Wild Dream Team students of LifeLink PSU inspire all of us to help children in need as they did and to work for a world where no child dies of preventable causes.
Toward a world with zero nukes and zero preventable child deaths
The urgent need to reduce nuclear weapons and to keep nuclear materials from falling into the hands of terrorists has reemerged as a foreign policy focal point. The U.S. Fund for UNICEF welcomes the Administration's leadership to reduce the nuclear threat and joins peace proponents and religious groups in a call for a new way of looking at "global security." We believe there can be no "global security" in a world where 8.8 million children die unnecessarily every year. An increasing number of defense analysts agree that the elements of defense, diplomacy, and development--including child survival--all must be engaged in order to advance true global security. The Global Security Priorities Resolution, H. Res. 278, urgently needs more cosponsors to secure consideration by the House Foreign Affairs Committee. To learn more about the resolution and to ask your Representative to cosponsor it, click here.
Ask Congress to help UNICEF get to ZERO
Although Washington seems preoccupied with the health care debate, the annual appropriations process also is underway. The Budget Committees soon will set the guidelines for overall Federal spending and then the Appropriations Committees will determine their allocations for international foreign assistance. Later in the Spring, the House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs will craft the funding bills that include the U.S. Government's annual contribution to UNICEF.
For the current Fiscal Year 2010, the Congress provided the highest contribution the United States ever has given to UNICEF: $132.25 million. For Fiscal Year 2011 (which begins on October 1st), we want to boost that funding to $140 million. Increases in the "core funding" UNICEF gets from the United States Government help to save more children's lives and get us closer to "Zero!"
But that will only happen if concerned citizens across the country contact the decision-makers. It only takes a minute or two to send e-mail messages to your two U.S. Senators and to your U.S. Representative.
Please join in this effort, and please encourage everyone you know to do the same!
It's an easy way to act on your dedication to saving more vulnerable children and to improving the quality of their lives.On the ground: Relief efforts for the Haiti Earthquake
Ordinarily, the tiny town of Jimani on the Dominican Republic’s southwest border with Haiti could be described as sleepy and nondescript. Safe for the military barracks and a few outdoor produce markets, day-to-day life seems to pass without much variation. This has all dramatically changed however in the days since a massive earthquake rocked Haiti, reducing its capital and surrounding communities to rubble.
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| © U.S. Fund for UNICEF/Alleyne/2010 |
| Haitians seeking treatment and curious area residents congregate outside a hospital in the small border town of Jimani in the Dominican Republic. |
With telecommunications spotty at best and flights into the capital city of Port-au-Prince still a logistical challenge, scores of UN agencies, relief groups and government ministries have descended upon Jimani transforming it into a hub of humanitarian activity.
While efforts to aid the three million Haitians affected by last Tuesday’s earthquake involve getting relief supplies in through any and all available ports and airstrips on Haiti’s western and northern coasts, the primary coordination of relief efforts are occurring from Jimani--the closest point to Port-au-Prince on Haiti’s eastern border.
Jimani’s proximity to Haiti’s capital, (just under an hour’s drive) makes dispatching relief teams to the crumbled city considerably easier, but it also makes for an attractive destination to Haitians desperately seeking medical attention for their injuries.
Increase in UNICEF funding signed into law
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| © Architect of the Capital |
As 2009 drew to a close, President Obama signed into law an appropriations bill to fund a variety of government activities. Included in this package was $132.25 million for the U.S. Government’s contribution to UNICEF.
This is the largest amount ever given to UNICEF by the United States. It will support UNICEF’s ongoing programs to save and improve the lives of children around the world. And it will help to hasten the day when no child is allowed to die a death we can prevent.
All of us have a role to play in saving children’s lives – and that includes our Government. As concerned citizens, we must ask our leaders and legislators to pursue a foreign policy that makes child and maternal health a top priority.
The annual U.S. contribution to UNICEF is a vital part of that effort. This year’s funding increase reflects the hard work and engagement of people across the country who took the time to contact their Senators and Representatives.
Next month, the President will be submitting to Congress his Budget Request for the next Fiscal Year. Once again, we will be asking you to join us to urge our legislators to craft a budget that makes saving children a goal of America’s global assistance. With your help, this can be the year when even more children survive, develop, and advance. What better resolution can we make for 2010?
How climate change impacts children
“Go Green” has become a popular catch-phrase over the last few years, with campaigns encouraging everything from recycling to driving electric cars to eating organic chickens. We all know that reducing our carbon footprint is important for future generations. What you may not know is that climate change is about more than just ensuring the future of the planet’s resources—it is a very present and real danger to millions of those most vulnerable to its harmful effects: the world’s children.
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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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Martin Rendón, Public Policy & Advocacy
Caryl M. Stern, President & CEO
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