UNICEF Calls On Governments, Donors And The Private Sector To End Child Labour

UNICEF is calling for renewed urgency to tackle the world worst forms of child labour on the 11th World Day against Child Labour with the theme "Go for the Goal. Eliminate Child Labour".


UNICEF estimates that 150 million children 5-14 years old worldwide are engaged in child labour, which is both a cause and a consequence of poverty, and compromises children's education and safety".


"We know that progress against MDG's in Education, poverty, gender and HIV/Aids are being systematically undermined by Child Labour and that no single policy will unilaterally end child labour," said Dr. Susan Bissell, Chief of Child Protection for UNICEF. "Evidence has shown that an effective, coherent response to child labour requires a mix of decent work employment measures, child sensitive social protection systems and the extension of basic services to the most vulnerable".


Overall figures tend indeed to show that child labour is diminishing worldwide but earlier limited gains in Sub-Saharan Africa have now gone into reverse and the most recent data indicates that the current incidence of 1 child in every 4 involved in child labour-the highest in the world-has worsened. This compares to 1 child in every 8 in Asia Pacific and 1 child in every 10 in Latin America and the Caribbean. The number of children combining work and school has escalated in some regions too by as much as 300 per cent.


But even these figures can be misleading, as migrant children, orphans, trafficked children and, above all girls, are too often frequently missing from current data sets and surveys which rely upon static household data. We must developed new data collection systems to ensure that these invisible children become visible and are systematically addressed.


At the recent global conference against the Worst Forms of Child labour which took place in The Hague, UNICEF committed itself to focus on developing new data methodologies to capture the invisible work of girls to ensure their visibility to the world.


Such visibility is key, since recent evidence suggests that the food, fuel and economic crises that have shaken the global order have had irreversible impacts upon children's lives. Child labour - a key household buffer in some countries against economic shocks - has led to more children being propelled from school into labour force earlier and in more hazardous areas than would normally occur."


While studies show that education for girls is among the best investment a country can make for its development, girls are the first ones to be taken out of school to work for the family in times of hardships. Keeping girls in school has been shown to raise family income, reduce child and maternal mortality and result in lower child marriage and fertility rates.


UNICEF calls upon governments and donors to increase investment in accessible and quality education, and to support the establishment of social protection measures that cover all children. UNICEF also calls upon the private sector to use its potential as agents of social change to ensure that children's rights are protected in their supply chains.

Source
UNICEF

Second Round Of Floods Expected In Bangladesh

Bangladesh is bracing itself for potentially devastating new flooding after major rivers swelled 'alarmingly' and exceeded or neared danger levels, according to the governments Flood Forecasting Centre.


More than one million people have been evacuated or stranded as rivers in northeastern India and Bangladesh rose to alarming levels and submerged vast swathes of countryside. In India's Assam state, the army helped shift an estimated 800,000 people as the Brahmaputra river and its tributaries - swollen by monsoon rains - breached their embankment.


An additional 300,000 people further downstream in Bangladesh were displaced or marooned, most of them for the second time in many months. An official bulletin said the Brahmaputra river, which flows from Tibet through India to Bangladesh and the Bay of Bengal, was above the danger level in 17 places.


These floods are expected to be very serious and to pose further distress to those living in the affected districts. Many embankments had been re-built and seedlings planted but this second wave of floods could wash away the recent rebuilding and cause potential food shortages.


Government figures declared over 800 deaths since the beginning of the floods mostly from drowning and snakebites.


The fresh floods threaten major damage on newly sown rice paddies and vegetable fields - over a million hectares of land across the inundated districts. If the waters do not recede fast in these districts, these crops could be totally lost and contribute to the looming food crisis.


As part of its emergency relief operations, UNICEF is providing essential life saving drugs, high protein (BP5) biscuits, bags of IV saline, 10,000 family kits and shelter equipment.


About UNICEF


UNICEF is on the ground in over 150 countries and territories to help children survive and thrive, from early childhood through adolescence. The world's largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments.


unicef

Washington Post Examines Commitments To Africa Made At G8 Summit, Reaction From Advocates

The Washington Post on Thursday examined the pledges made by the Group of Eight industrialized nations at its summit earlier this week in Japan to help Africa address development issues, including the fight against diseases such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. According to the Post, G8 members "reiterated their commitment to doubling aid to Africa by 2010, seeking to assuage growing concern that they will miss the ambitious targets they set" at their 2005 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland. G8 leaders also created new "accountability" methods to ensure that rich nations meet their African aid pledges, the Post reports.

Aid to Africa has been of "particular interest" to President Bush, and his aides said that they were pleased with progress at the summit, especially by programs to train health workers, combat tropical diseases and provide 100,000 insecticide-treated nets to fight malaria, according to the Post. "The lesson of this summit is that the emphasis is on implementation and delivery," British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said, adding, "The emphasis is on turning words into action and making them far more concrete than ever they have been in the past." Bush also praised "progress on alleviating sickness in Africa," adding that G8 leaders "had a comprehensive agenda on helping those who are being affected by disease live healthy lives."

However, several not-for-profit groups and advocates expressed concern over recent studies that found G8 countries likely will not meet overall development goals unless efforts are increased drastically. Although the U.S. is not seen as at risk of missing its targets, some advocates believe the country is not doing enough when considering its size and resources, according to the Post. In addition, others said that the final G8 language on accountability is "relatively modest," the Post reports. "Accountability is good," Kel Currah of World Vision International said, adding that accountability for low development commitments is "not going to achieve that desired impact we are all looking for. We need more money" (Abramowitz, Washington Post, 7/10).


Reprinted with kind permission from kaisernetwork. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at kaisernetwork/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.

© 2008 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

HHS Secretary Declares Public Health Emergency For Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, And Alabama

HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt declared a public health emergency to ensure that individuals, including those enrolled in Medicare, Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), in Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi and Alabama continue to receive their health care items and services.


"Hurricane Gustav is quickly approaching the Gulf Coast and the actions we are taking should immediately help our beneficiaries and providers, as well as some of the area's most vulnerable patients, in communities where hospitals and other health care delivery systems are affected," said Secretary Leavitt. "These steps will allow beneficiaries to continue to receive their health care services when they leave their communities as encouraged by their local officials."


Given the potential impact of Hurricane Gustav on the health care of hundreds of thousands of affected beneficiaries in these states, Secretary Leavitt declared the public health emergency under section 319 of the Public Health Service Act, and, under section 1135 of the Social Security Act, waived or modified certain Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP requirements. States can submit waiver requests through their Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Regional Offices.


"HHS and CMS have the flexibility to take steps ensuring that vital health care services can be maintained for our beneficiaries," said CMS Acting Administrator Kerry Weems. "Many of the agency's normal operating procedures will be temporarily relaxed so health care services will continue to be provided to the elderly, people with disabilities and vulnerable children as they leave the areas affected by the hurricane."


CMS will take the following actions, among others, to ensure sufficient items and services are available to meet the need of Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP beneficiaries. The agency will make certain that health care providers that provide items and services in good faith are exempt from sanctions for noncompliance with otherwise applicable requirement, provided there is no fraud or abuse.


CMS will waive certain program requirements for the following institutional providers:


- Critical Access Hospitals: Allow these hospitals to take more than the statutorily mandated limit of 25 patients and not count the expected longer lengths of stay for evacuated patients against the 96-hour average;


- Skilled Nursing Facilities: Waive the three-day prior hospitalization requirement for admission for evacuated patients and relax limitations on the benefit period for those evacuated patients;


- Long-Term Care Hospitals: Not count the evacuated patients in determining compliance with the 25 day average length of stay requirement;


- Inpatient Rehabilitation Facilities: Not count the evacuated patients in determining compliance with the 60 percent rule requirement. The 60 percent rule requires that at least 60 percent of a facility's patient population fall into certain clinical conditions.


CMS will expand the definition of "home" to allow those Medicare beneficiaries who are receiving home health services to receive those services in alternative sites.


For the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit, CMS has been working with prescription drug plans to ensure that rules preventing early refills are waived. This will assist those beneficiaries who left their prescriptions in evacuated homes or lost their prescriptions when they had to leave their homes.


Beneficiaries in Medicare health plans will be able to go out of network during this emergency. CMS is working with the health insurance industry to ensure there are no barriers to this service for those enrolled in these plans.


CMS will work with affected State Survey Agencies and providers to temporarily adjust quality assurance enforcement actions where the immediacy of direct patient care needs due to Hurricane Gustav is appropriate.


End Stage Renal Disease Networks in the Gulf States have already initiated arrangements to ensure the continuation of dialysis and health services for end stage renal disease patients. Also, CMS will be working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to manage lost, stolen, or abandoned durable medical equipment.


The HHS Web site homepage is featuring a link to public health and safety information specifically related to hurricanes at hhs/hurricane. The Declaration and the Waiver are available at Hurricane Gustav Public Health Actions.

hhs

An Unsung Hero Rescuing Lives At The Gaza-Israel Checkpoint

At the end of last month, with fighting between Gaza and Israel already in full swing, Israeli medic Moshe "Moshon" Vaknin drove an ambulance to the Erez Crossing, between Israel and Gaza, and got ready to evacuate an injured Palestinian child.


With Israeli mortars fired on one side, and bullets passing overhead from the other, Vaknin, the deputy director for the south district at
Magen David Adom
(MDA), Israel's version of the Red Cross, risked his life to bring the Palestinian child out of Gaza and take him to an Israeli hospital for life-saving treatment.


Since then, he's brought out two more wounded Palestinian children for treatment in Israeli hospitals, and last week, was one of a team of medics who drove in to the checkpoint, the most dangerous in Israel and possibly the Middle East, in a special bulletproof ambulance to rescue Palestinian truck drivers, hired by the United Nations, and attacked while delivering humanitarian aid.


"It's unbelievably dangerous. It's crazy. The scariest place," says Vaknin, who took the injured truck drivers to Barzilai Hospital in Israel, and normally never goes so deep inside the checkpoint.



Vaknin doesn't look like a hero, but over the last four years in his job working for the MDA, he has helped bring thousands of sick and injured Palestinian children and adults from the Gaza strip to Israeli hospitals for vital medical care, often on a daily basis.


Even before the current conflict began, it was a dangerous job. So dangerous in fact his wife simply "doesn't want to know about it." Hamas sniper fire and rockets have been aimed many times at both Vaknin and the Palestinian patients he was transporting.


From babies in incubators to seniors


"I really don't know why they were firing at us. They don't care, even if we were transporting a child or baby," says Vaknin, whose goal it is to save lives. "We don't choose who we treat. We take who there is," he tells ISRAEL21c.


Vaknin is responsible for all the humanitarian efforts at the Erez checkpoint. "Every day, almost, we're taking injured and sick people to Israel through the Erez crossing," he says. "We have a coordinator in Gaza working with us. He will tell us if it's a baby in an incubator, a child, an adult, or an elderly person. It's pretty unpredictable, and I've stopped asking questions. Sometimes they will tell us to expect a five-year-old child. When we get to the crossing it's a one-month-old baby."


Each month, the MDA normally transfers about 120 Palestinians for care. "Taking the ICU car, we get to the border and walk down to the cement fence," he says. Palestinians can throw stones, Qessams or sniper fire at them, he says noting that the reaction is the same whether he is trying to rescue a child, an adult, or even a baby in an incubator.


Of course Vaknin has a special helmet and protective gear, but these things don't count for much when a rocket can land on you at any time, he says, explaining that much of the medics' work is done in the outlying fields surrounding Gaza, before they take the ICU-equipped ambulance to the hospital. The Israeli medics have to make sure the incubator is working, or that basics like blood pressure is stabilized and that the proper medications are delivered to the patient.


Family under rocket fire near Gaza


Meanwhile, Vaknin's wife doesn't really know the details about what her husband Moshe does every day. She prefers not to know, he says, while his four children ask questions and he answers. It's a bit strange, he admits, that living about a mile from the Gaza border in Kibbutz Yad Mordechai, he knows that he's treating the same people who are throwing rockets on his family.



"They also live this reality of fear, because rockets are falling around us. We've learned to live like this. It's not a normal situation," says Vaknin, who is temporarily sick with a cold. "They're throwing rockets at my family and I am still helping them."



In the last week, the checkpoint has been closed, and the Palestinian coordinator has stopped calling. News reports suggest that the Palestinian Authority has reversed its long-standing policy and is now banning all medical transfers to Israel.


Magen David Adom

Quincy Jones Lends Time And Talent To Support Red Cross Relief Efforts In China And Myanmar

Legendary music producer and entertainment icon Quincy Jones is mobilizing assistance for survivors of the catastrophic earthquake that struck China and the deadly cyclone that swept through Myanmar. Jones recently recorded several public services announcements for the American Red Cross, which are now available to the media.


"This is a critical time for the survivors of the earthquake in China and cyclone in Myanmar, which devastated lives, homes and dreams," said Jones. "By contributing to the American Red Cross, people can help their neighbors around the world get back on their feet and give them greater hope for the future."


Since the quake hit, the American Red Cross has been supporting relief efforts of the Red Cross Society in China, which has over 35,000 employees and volunteers on the ground providing assistance and care to survivors. The American Red Cross is also helping survivors in Myanmar by providing financial assistance and delivering relief supplies - such as tarps, insecticide-treated bed nets, and other emergency items. As of May 23, six relief flights carrying American Red Cross relief supplies had arrived in country.


Already, the American Red Cross has contributed more than $12 million in financial assistance for these two disasters, and will provide additional relief through financial support, emergency supplies and relief workers, as needed.


"We are deeply grateful to Mr. Jones for supporting our efforts to help people in China and Myanmar," said David Meltzer, senior vice president, International Services for the American Red Cross. "Through his compassion, Mr. Jones is demonstrating the same leadership and humanitarian spirit that has earned him so much respect in the entertainment industry, and his efforts will directly improve people's lives in their time of need."


You can help the victims of countless crises around the world each year, crises like the Myanmar Cyclone and China Earthquake, by making a financial gift to the American Red Cross International Response Fund, which will provide immediate relief and long-term support through supplies, technical assistance and other support to help those in need. The American Red Cross honors donor intent. If you wish to designate your donation to a specific disaster please do so at the time of your donation by either contacting 1-800-HELP NOW or 1-800-257-7575 (Spanish), or mailing your donation with the designation to the American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, D.C. 20013 or to your local American Red Cross chapter. Internet users can make a secure online contribution by visiting redcross.

American Red Cross

Donation From Wellcome Trust Boosts HIV Research In Sub-Saharan Africa

The Africa Centre for Health and Population Studies, based in an area of South Africa where over one in five people are HIV infected, is to receive approximately 15 million pounds over five years, subject to a three year review, from the Wellcome Trust, the UK's largest medical research charity. The Centre will use the funding to improve the health status of people in the area, with a particular focus on HIV infection.



Initiated in 1998 in KwaZulu-Natal, the Africa Centre is a research collaboration between the South African Medical Research Council, the University of KwaZulu-Natal and the Wellcome Trust. It carries out a multidisciplinary programme of research reflecting population and health priorities in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly HIV. Recent successes of the Centre include a study showing the importance of exclusive breastfeeding in preventing transmission of HIV from mother to child.



"The Wellcome Trust grant will help us in our goal of keeping HIV negative people negative and HIV infected people optimally cared for," says Professor Marie-Louise Newell, Director of the Centre. "In South Africa, as in many areas of sub-Saharan Africa, HIV is a major problem, compounded as it is by poverty, migration and lack of access to effective treatments."



With the renewal of funding from the Wellcome Trust, the Africa Centre aims to address questions that will inform the development of appropriate interventions for a community with an HIV prevalence in adults of over 20% and high levels of poverty and unemployment. Researchers at the Centre will monitor the impact of HIV on individuals, their households and the wider community, combining data collected within the bi-annual household survey with that from the annual individual level HIV, health and behaviour surveillance.



In particular, the researchers will look at key questions, such as how communities, households and individuals are affected by simultaneous epidemics of HIV, sexually transmitted infections and tuberculosis; how HIV negative people can be supported to remain uninfected; how best to deliver HIV-related health care in a low-income, resource-poor setting; and how to improve the health of children and adults in an environment challenged by HIV and other adversities. The researchers will extend their HIV research to the over-50s, a vastly under-researched group.



The Africa Centre will also play an important role in monitoring and evaluating the Anti-Retroviral Treatment (ART) Programme, currently being rolled out across Africa, the largest public health programme ever contemplated on the continent. The Centre is one of the few settings where the effects of ART delivery can be monitored and evaluated comprehensively at both population and individual level, through data collected within the population-based HIV and household surveillance linked with the clinical cohort information collected within the HIV-ART programme.
















"The impact of the HIV/AIDS pandemic on societies is without precedent in recorded human history, and South Africa is particularly severely affected," says Professor Newell. "In the last 3 years, there has been an enormous effort to roll-out ART across sub-Saharan Africa. Over the coming 5 years, the Africa Centre will evolve from a research centre focused on description to one focused on intervention and implementation. The detailed knowledge of the population obtained since 2000, in addition to the well-resourced ART programme in the sub-district, uniquely places the Africa Centre to answer our primary research question: what is the long-term impact for the population of a well-functioning and comprehensive ART programme in a resource-poor, rural setting"



"The research at the Africa Centre is highly relevant for South Africa, but also will impact on the rest of Africa," says Dr Mark Walport, Director of the Wellcome Trust. "Professor Newell and colleagues are tackling some of the most important questions in HIV research, particularly those dealing with interventions for preventing HIV transmission and the impact of antiretroviral therapy on HIV incidence."



The support was welcomed by Professor Malegapuru Makgoba, Vice-Chancellor of the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa.



"The research at the Africa Centre, situated in rural northern KwaZulu-Natal is unique, cutting-edge and of profound importance to the understanding and interventions on the HIV/AIDS epidemic locally and globally," says Professor Makgoba. "The renewed funding from the Wellcome Trust is a welcome boost that serves as an inspiration to the programme itself and the scientists researching at the Centre. The University of KwaZulu-Natal is honoured to be associated with this Centre of excellence."



The Africa Centre is one of four Wellcome Trust major overseas programmes. Others include programmes in Kenya, looking in particular at malaria and childhood infections, and in Malawi, focusing on health problems of local and regional significance such as malaria, HIV, anaemia, tuberculosis and other bacterial and viral infections.






Source: Craig Brierley


Wellcome Trust