Global Action for Children

Access to clean water has always been a problem in Pakistan, but the floods have made the situation much worse by breaking open sewer lines, filling wells with dirty water and displacing millions of people who have been forced to use the contaminated water around them.

The environment is especially dangerous for children, who are more vulnerable to diseases such as diarrhea and dysentery because they are more easily dehydrated. Many children in Pakistan also suffered from malnutrition before the floods hit, leaving them with weakened immune systems.

Although the past 50 years have seen a remarkable decline in child mortality, millions of children continue to die prematurely, and childhood continues to be a time of vulnerability due to a wide range of health risks.

The burden of disease is particularly severe in Africa, but it is also significant in the Eastern Mediterranean and South-East Asian regions, says a report by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

A new clinical trial on rotavirus vaccine in Kenya has shown it to prevent 83.4 percent of children from contracting severe rotavirus, the most common cause of severe diarrhoea among infants during the first year of life.

August 10, 2010: NEW DELHI--Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra, who was today appointed UNICEF ambassador, says she will be working for the cause of girl education in the country.

August 10, 2010: To address the epidemic of undocumented children in Angola, the government recently passed a new law establishing free birth registration for children under five at maternity hospitals.

Obaida, a young Afghan girl, was sold into marriage at age 11 to support her father’s drug habit. Gayle Tzemach Lemmon reports from Kabul on Obaida’s triumphant escape—and why she’s still in danger.

August 9, 2010: A study on HIV/Aids’ impact on the education sector has revealed it will be difficult to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. According to the report by International Development Consultants and Ministry of Education, HIV/AIDS affects the sector supply through increased teacher and learner psychological stress, morbidity, sickness, absenteeism and mortality. These effects, in turn, impact on the sector through quality loss, quantity loss, and increased or unplanned expenditure.

July 19, 2010: VULINDLELA, South Africa — With an AIDS vaccine still out of reach, two rigorous new studies have found different ways to sharply cut H.I.V. infections among women and schoolgirls, who make up a majority of the newly infected in sub-Saharan Africa.

July 24, 2010: The 15th African Union Summit is underway in Kampala. The theme of the meeting -- “Maternal, Infant and Child Health and Development in Africa” – reflects the commitment of the Maputo Plan of Action endorsed by African heads of state four years ago. The focus of that plan – and this week-end’s summit – is to help African countries reach the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s) that aim to boost women’s rights, health, and livelihoods by 2015. In particular, the Maputo plan emphasizes MDGs 4 and 5, which advocate cutting in half maternal and infant mortality in Africa over the next five years.

July 8, 2010: As political leaders across Africa prepare for the World Cup education summit scheduled for 11 July in Pretoria, UNESCO warns that shortfalls in aid threaten to derail efforts to get the region’s 32 million out-of-school children into classrooms. The education summit, convened by President Jacob Zuma, marks a culmination in efforts led by the 1Goal campaign and FIFA to push Africa’s education crisis up the international agenda. That crisis is holding back economic growth, poverty reduction and progress in areas such as public health.