Clay Aiken: Please pledge today
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Aug11
The 117th Annual GFWC International Convention
The General Federation of Women’s Clubs (GFWC) recently honored Caryl Stern, president and CEO of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF, as one of four women of distinction at the Empowering Women Banquet, held during the 117th Annual GFWC International Convention in Chicago. Other honorees included Anne Burke, Illinois Supreme Court Justice and a founder of the Special Olympics; Elena Poptodorova, Ambassador of Bulgaria to the United States; and Jaclyn Smith, actress, entrepreneur, philanthropist and breast cancer survivor. Stern thanked the gathering of over 650 GFWC members for their long-standing support of UNICEF and commitment to the empowerment of women. She pointed out that gender inequality creates a burden on both women and children, and therefore remains a high priority in UNICEF’s work. Jul30
Tetanus is no match for creative strategyVaccination drives can take a lot of work: running public service announcements, coordinating health workers, plannng events, etc. On top of these logitical challenges, organizers sometimes face unexpected hurdles like misconceptions about vaccines that stop people from getting lifesaving immunizations. In Egypt where UNICEF was trying to protect mothers and babies from tetanus, many women had heard false rumors that the vaccines acted as contraceptives or caused sterilization. As a result, a lot of women refused to be immunized, putting themselves and their future children at risk. This presented a troubling situation for Egyptian health officials who were trying to curb the disease. But UNICEF tackled the problem with a creative, grassroots approach. UNICEF and its partners trained 5,000 local Egyptian women to serve as community liaisons and educate their relatives and neighbors about the benefits of immunization.
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