UNICEF - The African Mirror

Sep

25

2024

Lebanon escalation: Have we not learned anything from Gaza, UN humanitarians ask

WORLD

AS Lebanon mourns the victims of a wave of Israeli airstrikes believed to have left hundreds dead, UN humanitarians warned against a return to the “dark days of 2006” when full-scale war broke out, calling for an urgent de-escalation and the protection of civilians. Speaking from Beirut in the aftermath of Lebanon’s “worst day in 18 years”, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF’s) deputy representative in the country, Ettie Higgins, insisted that “this violence has to stop immediately, or the consequences will be unconscionable”. The wide-ranging Israeli strikes conducted on Monday in retaliation to attacks by the armed group Hezbollah killed…

Sep

21

2024

By The African Mirror

Mpox: UNICEF issues urgent appeal for $59m

NEWS

THE UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, issued an urgent appeal for nearly $59 million to halt the rapid spread of mpox in six African countries including Burundi, where youngsters have been impacted the most. “Children in Burundi are bearing the brunt of the mpox outbreak with alarming rates of infection and health impacts,” said Dr Paul Ngwakum, UNICEF Regional Health Advisor for Eastern and Southern Africa. “Of the nearly 600 reported cases, two-thirds are children under 19 years old and the situation is escalating really rapidly with more than [a] 40 per cent increase in cases over the last three weeks.” To date,…

Sep

02

2024

By The African Mirror

DRC – hardest hit by Mpox infections – set to receive vaccines

NEWS

THE Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where the latest outbreak of Mpox has already infected over 18,000 people, is expected to be the first recipient of an emergency tender from UNICEF to procure vaccines to combat what the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared a global pandemic. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has announced that Mpox vaccines are set to arrive in the DRC within the next few days to fight a new strain of the virus. "We hope to have the first delivery in the next few days, and then it will build up," Tedros told reporters. WHO official…

Aug

15

2024

By The African Mirror

Sexual violence and famine stalk Sudan’s displaced: UNICEF, IOM

NEWS

SUDAN’s deepening humanitarian crisis caused by nearly 16 months of war has left countless women and girls subject to sexual violence and rape and tens of thousands of children at risk of death from hunger, according to UN aid teams. Speaking from Sudan, UN Children’s Fund spokesperson James Elder described meeting a senior medical worker at a hospital outside Khartoum who had “direct contact with hundreds, hundreds of women and girls, some as young as eight years old, who have been raped. Many have been held captive for weeks on end. She also spoke of the distressing number of babies born…

Aug

11

2024

By The African Mirror

UN rights chief condemns Israeli minister for justifying war crime starvation of civilians in Gaza

WORLD

THE UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk is “shocked and appalled”, a spokesman said, at Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich’s statement earlier this week in which he deplored aid for civilians in the Gaza Strip and suggested that the deliberate starvation of Palestinian civilians in Gaza could be “justified and moral” as long as Israeli hostages are held by Hamas. “The High Commissioner condemns these words in the strongest terms,” said Jeremy Laurence, UN human rights spokesperson, at the press briefing in Geneva. “They also incite hatred against innocent civilians. The starvation of civilians as a method of…

Jul

24

2024

By BLESSING AKOMBI-INYANG

11 million Nigerian children are going hungry: how this hurts their health and what needs to be done

HEALTH

UNICEF, the UN agency for children, reported in June 2024 that around 11 million Nigerian children were experiencing severe child food poverty. The report says this translates to one in every three Nigerian children under five years old. Nigeria has about 31 million children under five. Unicef defines severe child food poverty as consuming no more than two out of eight food groups. Globally, 181 million children under the age of five are considered to be facing severe child food poverty. Nigeria ranks among the 20 countries that account for 65% – almost two-thirds – of these children. According to…

Nov

01

2023

By BIRD STORY AGENCY

Nigeria launches huge human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination drive, to fight cervical cancer

HEALTH

NIGERIA has officially introduced a vaccine program against the human papillomavirus (HPV) into Nigeria's routine immunisation system, a pivotal moment in the country's fight against cervical cancer-related deaths. “This is a momentous occasion that we are introducing a vaccine to prevent young girls from no longer having to suffer the pain and burden of cervical cancer,” said Muhammad Ali Pate, the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, at an event to mark the occasion in Abuja on October 24. The campaign against cervical cancer is being conducted together with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, WHO and UNICEF. Gavi had previously…

Oct

04

2023

By The African Mirror

In Burkina Faso, a million children out of school due to insecurity– UNICEF

NEWS

MORE than one million children and 31,000 teachers have been unable to return to their classrooms in Burkina Faso due to violence and insecurity as the West African nation starts another academic year, UNICEF said. About 6,100 schools, or at least one out of four, were shut down on the first day of the school year, UNICEF said. The junta that seized power in a military coup last year has struggled to improve security in the country. Indeed, data from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), a U.S.-based crisis-monitoring group, shows that violence nationwide has only increased since the…

Jul

06

2023

By The African Mirror

Dancing the blues away: Nigerian salsa teacher fights mental health stigma

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

NIGERIA'S Emeka Adindu says salsa saved his life. Growing up in a country with a deep-rooted stigma against mental health issues, Adindu, 35, found solace in the popular Latin dance as he battled abuse, depression and suicidal thoughts. He now helps others do the same - with free dance classes in the capital city Abuja. "Salsa was the only thing that could make me smile all those days that I was battling, fighting with my demon," he says. A 2021 UNICEF report shows one in six Nigerians aged between 15 and 24 are depressed, anxious or have other mental health…

Jun

09

2023

By The African Mirror

Children evacuated from orphanage where dozens died in Sudan’s capital

NEWS

ABOUT 300 children have been evacuated from an orphanage in Sudan's capital Khartoum where dozens of orphans were found last month to have died since mid-April due to nearby fighting between rival military factions. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which facilitated the evacuation late on Wednesday, said the children aged between 1 and 15 had been taken to a safer location in Wad Madani, about 200 kilometres (125 miles) southeast of Khartoum. The ICRC said in its initial statement that 280 children and 70 caretakers had been evacuated, and an ICRC spokesperson said the number of evacuated children had…