Child well-being media review
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== Most recent == | == Most recent == | ||
| + | *[http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/leading-articles/leading-article-child-poverty-needs-more-creative-thinking-7800880.html Leading article: Child poverty needs more creative thinking] (The Independent 30.05.2012) | ||
| + | Admirable as the sentiment may be, the target to all but eliminate child poverty by 2020 was never likely to be conclusively met. Now, after the worst financial crisis since the 1930s and with the lingering threat of worse to come, even a statistical triumph is looking firmly out of reach. | ||
| + | <br> | ||
| + | *[http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/18254989 Child poverty could get worse] (BBC 29.05.2012) | ||
| + | Cuts by the government could make UK child poverty worse, says the children's charity Unicef. | ||
| + | <br> | ||
| + | *[http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2012/05/29/pol-cp-unicef-child-poverty.html Poverty in Canada has a 'child's face', UN report says] (CBC News 29.05.2012) | ||
| + | Canadians should be doing much more for children growing up in poverty, according to a new UNICEF report that finds Canada lags many other advanced countries. | ||
| + | <br> | ||
| + | *[https://www.unicef.org.uk/Latest/News/report-child-poverty-uk-government-spending/ UNICEF warns Government cuts will increase UK child poverty] (29.05.2012) | ||
| + | The UK did better than many other rich countries in reducing child poverty and deprivation during the early years of the financial crisis. But the current government's policies to reduce spending will reverse this, and more children will grow up in poverty. | ||
| + | <br> | ||
*[http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/global-campaign-to-wipe-out-polio-could-falter-with-the-finish-line-insight-20120527-1zcvz.html Global campaign to wipe out polio could falter with the finish line in sight] (Sydney Morning Herald 28.05.2012) | *[http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/global-campaign-to-wipe-out-polio-could-falter-with-the-finish-line-insight-20120527-1zcvz.html Global campaign to wipe out polio could falter with the finish line in sight] (Sydney Morning Herald 28.05.2012) | ||
Only when the last case is gone will children be free from this scourge. The plan is there, now all depends on money. | Only when the last case is gone will children be free from this scourge. The plan is there, now all depends on money. | ||
Revision as of 05:35, 30 May 2012
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Most recent
- Leading article: Child poverty needs more creative thinking (The Independent 30.05.2012)
Admirable as the sentiment may be, the target to all but eliminate child poverty by 2020 was never likely to be conclusively met. Now, after the worst financial crisis since the 1930s and with the lingering threat of worse to come, even a statistical triumph is looking firmly out of reach.
- Child poverty could get worse (BBC 29.05.2012)
Cuts by the government could make UK child poverty worse, says the children's charity Unicef.
- Poverty in Canada has a 'child's face', UN report says (CBC News 29.05.2012)
Canadians should be doing much more for children growing up in poverty, according to a new UNICEF report that finds Canada lags many other advanced countries.
The UK did better than many other rich countries in reducing child poverty and deprivation during the early years of the financial crisis. But the current government's policies to reduce spending will reverse this, and more children will grow up in poverty.
- Global campaign to wipe out polio could falter with the finish line in sight (Sydney Morning Herald 28.05.2012)
Only when the last case is gone will children be free from this scourge. The plan is there, now all depends on money.
IN OCTOBER last year, against the backdrop of the largest-ever gathering of Commonwealth leaders, Australia called the world's attention to the urgent need to end polio forever. Standing shoulder to shoulder with Pakistan, Nigeria, Britain and Canada, Australia announced a landmark commitment of $50 million to purchase and deliver polio vaccines that will protect children around the world from this debilitating disease.
- The CIA's fake vaccination drive has damaged the battle against polio (The Guardian Data Poverty blog 27.05.2012)
The impacts of that day in New York became an unexpected thread in my Unicef work and the current research I lead at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, where we monitor trends in vaccine confidence globally.
- Motherhood risky business in Tanzania (The Citizen 27.05.2012)
Dar es Salaam. A recent research finding shows that becoming a mother in Tanzania is a high risky business – as it comes with hefty tolls compared to other countries in East Africa. The finding published in a Save the Children’s report titled State of the World’s Mothers, Tanzania lags behind in the region with Kenya doing better than its neighbours.
- Italian children threatened by high child poverty rate (PressTV 26.05.2012)
International children’s rights group has held an event in Italy, which is currently faced with a growing child poverty rate, Press TV reports. According to Save the Children, one in every four Italian children is at risk of living in poverty.
- Protect our children, asks Zuma (News 24 27.05.2012)
Johannesburg - President Jacob Zuma has called on South Africans to unite to protect children.
- Choice: gruelling heat or gnawing hunger (Telegraph India 27.05.2012)
Going to school in peak summer heat is cruel, but going without the meal even more so for many children in East Midnapore.
- Tanzania: Kikwete to Grace ADB Group Meet in Arusha (AllAfrica 26.05.23012)
Many topics will be addressed at the Annual Meeting of Governors of the African Development Bank Group which comprises both the African Development Bank and the African Development Fund but among the issues of interest will be the emergence of "Child Soldiers" on the continent.
- Budget 'paints a bleak outlook for NZ children' (Voxy.co.nz 25.05.2012)
Budget 2012 is a smoke and mirrors budget which paints a bleak outlook for children and the economy, a post-Budget breakfast forum in Wellington was told today.
- ACRI: 78% of east Jerusalem in poverty (The Jerusalem Post 24.05.2012)
The National Insurance Institute found that 78 percent of residents and 84 percent of children lived under the poverty line in east Jerusalem in 2010. This is even higher than the poverty rate for 2006, when 64% of east Jerusalem and 73% of children there lived under the poverty line.
- Bolivia will implement a model program for early childhood development (the Daily Information 24.05.2012)
A $20 million IDB loan will promote cognitive development, socio-emotional and physical development of children under 4 years old
- Uganda: Early Childhood Education Is a Right (AllAfrica.com 24.05.2012)
Since all children are rights bearers, they have a right to education and parents should ensure to deliver this right. Research made by UNICEF quotes the African Charter, which states that the family should be accorded the necessary protection and assistance so that it can fully assume its responsibilities within the community, one of which is the growth and well-being of children.
- March from Te Papa to Parliament to protest against children living in poverty (Wellington.scoop 24.05.2012)
Today, the day of the Budget announcement, people will be marching from Te Papa to Parliament, leaving Te Papa at noon, on behalf of the children of Aotearoa and in particular those experiencing hardship and living in Poverty.
- Angola Government creates child situation database (Angola Press Society 23.05.2012)
Luanda – Angolan Government and its partners are considering to create a databank for evaluation of the situation of children, through the National Institute of Statistics (INE), Angop learned Wednesday in Luanda.
- Poverty forces Bengal mother to sell child for Rs.2000 (NY Daily News 22.05.2012)
Kolkata, May 22 — Unable to take care of her seven-month-old child due to extreme poverty, a mother in West Bengal's Nadia district sold her infant to a meat seller for Rs.2000.
- Poverty gives children nowhere to turn (Vietnam news 22.05.2012)
The latest report by the ministry shows that 73 per cent of child labourers are between the ages of 10 and 14, 17 per cent between the ages of 15 and 17 and 10 per cent between 6 and 9.
- Feed the children (China Daily 22.05.2012)
At least 10 million pre-school students are physically underdeveloped because of malnutrition. This should be a national concern given its two decades of galloping economic growth.
- More than half of South Africa's children live in poverty (The Telegraph 22.05.2012)
Eighteen years after the end of apartheid, South Africa is now judged to be one of the most unequal societies in the world and its 19 million children bear the brunt of the disconnect.
- Half of Liberia’s School-age Children Aren’t in School Reveals UNICEF Report (Daily Observer 21.05.2012)
The UN children organization, UNICEF, at the weekend launched a report highlighting the situation of Liberian women and children after a period of political instability
- Ugandan mothers top region in exclusive breastfeeding (New Vision 21.05.2012)
According to the report, a baby born in Uganda is more likely to be exclusively breastfed up to six months compared to those born anywhere else in East Africa. However, only 42% of Ugandan babies are breastfed within an hour of being born.
- UN envoy blasts poverty in Canada (the Star 21.05.2012)
Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservative cabinet fairly erupted in indignation this past week as Canada took a knock from a United Nations envoy for turning a blind eye to the poverty, inequality and, yes, the hunger in our midst.
- The Children's Commissioner for Wales doubts 2020 poverty target (BBC News Wales 20.05.2012)
The Children's Commissioner says it is unlikely child poverty will be eradicated in Wales by a 2020 target.
- Conflict in Nuba mountains may lead to devastating epidemics, say doctors (the Guardian 20.05.2012)
UN aid agencies are under attack from doctors working with refugees who have been displaced by fighting in Sudan, with claims that they are not doing enough to get medical supplies through to children in desperate need.
- Months of warnings fail to prevent Niger tipping into crisis (Save the Children UK 18.05.2012)
As G8 leaders meet at Camp David today, Save the Children says that months of warnings have failed to prevent a serious malnutrition crisis sweeping Niger.
- UK aid for education in east Africa is failing (the Guardian Data Blog 18.05.2012)
UK aid programmes to support education in three east African countries – together worth more than £1bn – are failing to improve children's basic literacy and maths skills, according to a report published on Friday by the Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI).
- EU Ministers agree future of development policy (Save the Children UK 16.05.2012)
At their meeting on 14 May 2012, EU development ministers concluded their discussions on:
•EU Pacific Development Partnership
•Strengthening resilience to food crisis in the Horn of Africa
•Annual report on EU development aid targets
•Future approach to EU budget support
•Policy coherence for development
•Increasing the impact of EU development policy and Agenda for Change
What is significant?
Today is the day for interesting research findings. Here is a summary of a study that looked at whether children fared better in a country with a wider safety net than the United States. Researchers compared child outcomes in the U.S. and Great Britain, which offers families and children a broader range of social services. Their conclusion: It didn’t seem to make any difference. The risk factors for behavioral problems did not appear to be mitigated by stronger social services, affirming the researchers’ earlier findings of the critical role of parents to healthy child development.
- $60 Million set aside for Early Childhood Development Project (Jamaica Information Service 16.05.2012)
Some $60 million has been set aside in the national budget for the 2012/2013 fiscal year for initiatives to improve the quality of early childhood schools and care facilities, as well as to strengthen organisations and institutions delivering such services
- A Sustainable World Fit for Children? (National Geographic 16.05.2012)
Last week UNICEF commemorated the 10-year anniversary of the adoption of ‘A World Fit for Children’ – the agenda that the leaders of some 180 nations adopted in 2002 at the close of the United Nations Special Session on Children. When world leaders meet again in Brazil for the Rio+20 Conference in just over 4 weeks, will they remember those commitments and put children at the center of sustainable development?
- 10 percent of Dutch children living in poverty (Expatica.com 15.05.2012)
The Dutch children's ombudsman has called for better monitoring of children living in poverty in the Netherlands. According to the first edition of the Netherlands Children's Rights Monitor, one in 10 children in the country grows up in poverty.
- Saving the Girl Child (Huff Post Impact Blog 15.05.2012)
Trigger warning: Some links within this post may be disturbing and can potentially cause emotional and psychological stress. Please indulge in positive self-care if you experience such reactions and seek out a friend or professional to talk to. There is a public video on Facebook that depicts what appears to be a young Desi woman beating a young baby. The video is heart-wrenching as the taped abuse goes on for more than four minutes. It can be inferred that the abuse started before the taping and that it continued after the taping.
- Africa: Inequality Dooms 76 Million Children in Continent (AllAfrica 15.05.2012)
The future of about 76 million African children is doomed, with the likelihood of all of them ending up in poverty, because inequality on the continent has placed limitations on their surroundings.
- Brazil Launches New Social Support For Children (Bernama 15.05.2012)
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has launched on Mother's Day in Latin America raft of new social programmes for low-income families with young children.
- Kids feel family time suffers when mum and dad are overworked (Brisbane Times 15.05.2012)
About one in three 10-year-old children say their parents work too hard, and about one-quarter of all parents agree, according to new research by the Australian Institute for Family Studies.
- Dalai Lama donates $US1.77m to charity (Herald Sun 15.05.2012)
THE Dalai Lama was awarded a US-born philanthropist's prize for "exceptional contribution to affirming life's spiritual dimension" today - and immediately donated the $US1.77 million prize money to charity.
- Study tries to make Utah's KIDS COUNT, pushes for improvements (Standard Examiner 14.05.2012)
There is a lot of room for improvement when it comes to the health and well-being of Utah kids, according to the Voices for Utah Children’s “Utah KIDS COUNT” study, released Monday.
- Education in Europe and Central Asia ECA region: Investing Early, Smartly and for All (World Bank Education for Global Development blog 14.05.2012)
In Europe and Central Asia (ECA), we are helping our clients to “invest smartly”. Over the past few years, as demographic shifts in ECA countries deepened, the number of school-aged children diminished substantially. At the same time, the global economic crisis created significant pressures on public budgets. For the education sector, the result of these rapidly changing realities was an increased attention to efficiency of expenditures and - in particular- to the right-sizing of the education service delivery networks.
- Cops beaten up in bid to stop child marriage (the Times of India 14.04.2012)
Malda: In a state where police inaction is frowned upon, police initiative in favour of a noble cause was rewarded with assault at a Malda village. Mob attacked three policemen after they tried to stall a child marriage at Gumaidanga village under Bamangola police station on Saturday. The cops were hospitalised and five persons were arrested in connection with the assault.
- Poverty, ignorance leads to 1.6 million malnourished children (the Jakarta Post 13.05.2012)
Poverty and a lack of women’s maternal education is resulting in 40 percent of four million Indonesian infants, or about 1.6 million children, suffering through malnutrition.
- Pregnant women, lactating moms neglected in Kerala (the Times of India 13.05.2012)
Though Mother's Day was observed on Sunday, hardly few anganwadis support pregnant women, lactating mothers and ensure proper nutrition and care. Of the 4.36 lakh pregnant women and lactating mothers, around 2.1 lakh receive support at 33,115 anganwadis across the state.
- Nepal's child brides suffer as poverty reinforces social custom (The National 12.05.2012)
For Meena Chaudhary, this year will mark not only her sixth wedding anniversary, but also five years since her newborn baby died in the delivery room.
- This Week in Poverty: Republicans Define 'Lower-Priority Spending' (The Nation 11.05.2012)
..for House Republicans, their preferred alternative of cutting lower-priority spending means… a $36 billion cut in food stamps (SNAP), which largely helps the elderly, disabled people, children and the working poor. Two million people would lose their benefits entirely and 44 million would have their benefits reduced—the current average benefit is $4 per person per day. Two hundred and eighty thousand low-income children would also lose automatic access to free school breakfast and lunch.
- Multiple Threats to Malian Refugees (SOS Children's Villages Canada 11.05.2012)
Many children and their families fleeing Mali must contend not only with food insecurity, but inadequate living conditions and sanitation. Soon, says one aid group, the rainy season could make delivering aid more challenging.
- Why nutrition matters (World Bank Development blog 10.05.2012)
Three years from the deadline for reaching the Millennium Development Goals, two-thirds of countries will not reach MDGs 4 and 5 (child and maternal mortality, respectively). And now the second food price rise in three years is a wake-up call for the development community.
- Uganda: The State of Early Childhood Education (AllAfrica.com 10.05.2012)
Early Childhood Development (ECD) is critical in the well-being of a child. There is a positive link between early childhood learning and future holistic development of a child which, has not been clearly understood as revealed by Uganda's policy on ECD. Mrs Mary Ojacor chairper-son, ECD Training Institutions Association and director DOT ECD Centre tells us about the state of ECD centres in Uganda are in.
- Most vulnerable still fall between cracks, says agency (Sydney Morning Herald 10.05.2012)
THE welfare agency, Anglicare Sydney, has criticised the federal budget for pandering to middle-income earners while missing a chance to focus on children in the most vulnerable families. Its harsh assessment came as it released a report showing it had helped at least 26,000 children in Sydney and Wollongong over the past four years with basic necessities such as food.
- Child poverty 'a business issue' (Taranaki Daily News online 08.05.2012)
Business needs to be concerned about child poverty, if only because today's children are tomorrow's workforce, says a business lobby group.
- Infant mortality in Armenia down over last five years (News.am 08.05.2012)
According to the Armenia Demographic and Health Survey (ADHS) 2010, infant mortality in Armenia has dropped over the last five years from 26 to 13 deaths per 1,000 live births. The number of Armenian children aged 18-29 months, fully vaccinated according to the World Health Organization and the Armenian Ministry of Health standards, has also increased from 74 percent to 87 percent since 2005. At the same time, nearly 19 percent of children under five experience stunted growth or are too short for their age due to chronic malnutrition, while 15 percent of their peers are overweight.
- Mozambique: Corruption Threatens Education in Country (All Africa 05.05.2012)
Media reports about Mozambique usually paint a rosy picture of a country with a soaring economy, a young but stable democracy and a bright future. But beneath the happy headlines, Mozambique's long-term prospects are being severely undermined by corruption and impunity within the public sector and particularly the education sector - which could cost the country its future.
- Michael Clemens - Africa’s Child Health Miracle: The Biggest, Best Story in Development (Centre for Global Development 04.05.2012)
If you’re sick of the sad, hopeless stories coming out of Africa, here’s one that made my year. New statistics show that the rate of child death across sub-Saharan Africa is not just in decline—but that decline has massively accelerated, just in the last few years
- Govt fails to spend malnutrition funds (the Indian Express 04.05.2012)
While 42 per cent of India’s children continue to suffer from malnutrition, the Ministry of Women and Child Development failed to spend a single paise of the Rs 430 crore allocated in 2011-12 for two projects dealing with malnutrition.
- Child refugees are victims of inaction on immigration reform (The Bandera Bulletin 04.05.2012)
The Office of Refugee Resettlement reports that during the past four months 5,252 kids landed in U.S. custody without a parent or guardian, almost double what it was from the same period a year ago. Last month alone 1,390 youths arrived.
- Pregnancy, Post-Term and Preterm Babies (SOS Children's Villages Canada 04.05.2012)
When it comes to the length of pregnancy and child health, recent studies have highlighted the adverse consequences of both extremes.
- High food prices threaten struggle against poverty (DW 04.05.2012)
The fight against child and maternal mortality is one of the Millennium Goals. But one reason for lack of progress is malnutrition and poor diet - in turn caused by rising global food prices.
- Nigeria: Plight of Urban Poor Children (AllAfrica 04.05.2012)
Hassana came out of her parent's mud hut in Daki-Biu, a slum within Abuja carrying a bucket. She waddled through the slimy and muddy lane to another compound down the street to fetch water from a well, waited for her turn as the other children there, some clad in rag like clothes fetched theirs. She returns to a makeshift shack outside their hut to take her bath. There was no sign of electricity or toilet facilities in sight.
- The tax credit crunch: 450,000 children thrown into deeper poverty as Osborne axes cash breaks (the Mirror 03.05.2012)
More than 200,000 working couples with around 450,000 children have lost up to £73 a week they were getting in allowances to boost low incomes. Critics claimed the situation was an “absolute calamity” that would push hundreds of thousands of families into hardship.
- Statement by the Hon. Lisa Hanna for Child Month 2012 (Jamaica Information Service 02.05.2012)
May is being observed as Child Month against the backdrop of significant public concern here in Jamaica about the state and well-being of the nation’s children, particularly in the context of reports of physical and sexual abuse against minors.
- New UN-backed report calls for action to prevent millions of preterm births (UN News Centre 02.05.2012)
Some 15 million babies worldwide – more than one in ten births – are born too early, according to a new United Nations-backed report, released today, which calls for steps such as ensuring the requisite medicines and equipment and training health staff to promote child survival.
- Economic integration is the key: Poor students perform better when exposed to their more-affluent peers (Baltimore Sun 02.05.2012)
"the main problem in education isn't teachers. The main problem is poverty”... Johns Hopkins University researcher James Coleman authored his landmark study, "Equality of Educational Opportunity”, which was expected to show that minority students were being denied a quality education due to inadequate funding of schools. Instead, Coleman found that other factors, such as the income and educational level of a child's family and classmates, were more important determinants of success.
- Rise in level of poverty among working households in NI (BBC News 02.05.2012)
A report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has examined the impact of the economic downturn on households in Northern Ireland since 2009. It said half of the 120,000 children living in poverty are in a household with at least one working parent.
- Govt to have power to take over orphanages (Hindustan Times 02.05.2012)
The government is set to empower states to take over unregistered orphanages and child-care homes on the ground of child abuse or any other irregularity. A key change proposed in the Juvenile Justice Act is a follow-up of the reported abuse of children in Delhi-based Arya Orphanage in February this year.
- Learning more about Australia’s children (Minister's Media Centre 01.05.2012)
This week more than 7500 government and non-government schools across Australia will start taking part in the world’s most comprehensive collection of information about the development of Australia’s children.
- OPHI team members contribute to new UNICEF child poverty book (OPHI 01.05.2012)
A chapter by OPHI researchers on child poverty has appeared in a new UNICEF book “Child Poverty and Inequality: New Perspectives”. The chapter by Sabina Alkire, OPHI Director, and José Manuel Roche, OPHI Research Officer, explains how the Alkire Foster method of multidimensional measurement can be used to create multidimensional measures of child poverty. The chapter explains some of the advantages of moving beyond income and consumption measures of child poverty and the policy-relevance of using a multidimensional lens on deprivation in childhood.
For the full report see here.
- With World Bank Support, Mozambique to Extend Crucial Early Childhood Development Services to 84,000 Children in 600 Rural Communities (the World Bank 01.05.2012)
The World Bank will support the Government of Mozambique in its effort to extend Early Childhood Development services in 600 rural communities. Through these community-based services, early attention to cognitive, linguistic, socio-emotional and physical skills is expected to help 84,000 young children increase their chances of success in primary school and beyond.
- China's Left Behind Children (Forein Policy 01.04.2012)
When Huang Dongyan visited home to celebrate the Lunar New Year in 2011, her son refused to call her "Mom." Huang, 38, tried coaxing him with baby talk and tickles. But five-year-old Zhang Yi ignored her and buried his face in his hat. For the rest of her visit he avoided her, favoring the attention of his 17-year-old sister, Zhang Juanzi, instead. Huang's every attempt at intimacy -- games, shopping trips, cuddles -- was rebuffed. "I was a stranger to my son," Huang recalls, blinking back tears.
- Philippines: Making Safety Nets Work For All In An Age Of Uncertainty (The World Bank 01.04.2012)
Making safety nets available across the developing world is one of the World Bank’s key themes and was discussed at the 2012 Spring Meetings held in April in Washington D.C. Among many country examples, the Philippines has embraced a unique approach with promising results... In 2008, the food, fuel and global financial crises prompted the Philippine government to expand a conditional cash transfer program, Pantawid Pamilya, with the support of the World Bank and other partners. The program targets chronically poor households with children ages 0-14 living in poor areas. Households that qualify receive cash in return for sending children to school, regularly visiting health centers and for undertaking preventive check-ups for pregnant women.
- First Mother-and-Baby Friendly Hospital in the Pacific (UNICEF 30.04.2012)
The Ministry of Health and Medical Services and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) today declared the National Referral Hospital in Honiara, Solomon Islands “Mother-and-Baby Friendly”. It is the first hospital in the Pacific to meet expanded standards for both mother and baby friendliness. Previous accreditations were limited to “baby-friendly” standards
- 'Education News:' Reactions to BULLY Film (Facing History and Ourselves 30.04.2012)
Facing History and Ourselves has partnered with The Bully Project to document viewer responses to the newly released documentary, ‘BULLY’ (official trailer), which offers an intimate, unflinching look at how bullying has touched five children and their families in the United States. Education News recently highlighted the video of audience responses, which captured how viewers at one New York City screening were moved by the film and, more importantly, what they planned to do about it. Click here to watch the Be the Difference 2012 video. An educational partner on BULLY, Facing History has created an official facilitator’s guide that helps adult and student audiences confront the film’s stories and explore the meaning for their schools and wider communities.
- Special immunisation campaign kicks off in Papua New Guinea (UNICEF Australia 30.04.2012)
“Some 57 infants under one year die from every 1,000 live births and 75 per 1000 live births die before reaching the age of five. And up to 733 mothers die from child birth complications for every 100,000 live births recorded,” Health Secretary, Pascoe Kase highlights at the ceremony
- Government adviser calls for changes to child poverty measures (Children & Young People Now 30.04.2012)
United Kingdom: Measures to track levels of child poverty should be based on life chances rather than finances, Labour MP Frank Field has said.
- Gillard Government to establish National Children's Commissioner (Attorney-General for Australia and Minister for Emergency Management 29.04.2012)
The Gillard Government today announced the creation of a National Children’s Commissioner within the Australian Human Rights Commission.
- Ghana rolls out vaccines against top two killers of children (GAVI Alliance 26.04.2012)
Ghana has become the first African country to introduce pneumococcal and rotavirus vaccines at the same time, simultaneously tackling the leading causes of the world’s two biggest childhood killers – pneumonia and diarrhoea.
- Nearly 50 per cent of India’s adolescent girls underweight, UNICEF report card on adolescents (Health India.com 26.04.2012)
As the 10th edition of UNICEF’s Progress for Children shows, this report card is mixed. While we have made significant progress for millions of children over the last decades – reducing child mortality, increasing the number of children enrolled in primary school, expanding access to health care services – our efforts have left behind far too many adolescents between the ages of 10 and 19.
- Blog from Dagfinn Høybråten, Board Chair of the GAVI Alliance: Why immunisation is an act of immeasurable love (GAVI Alliance 26.04.2012)
I had the chance to help protect a life today, the life of a little girl named Madeleine Isaac. World Immunization Week (WIW) builds on nine years of ever-growing Vaccination Week regional campaigns that have led to the vaccination of more than 365 million people.
- Welfare reforms ‘will increase child poverty’ (Newsletter 26.04.2012)
MORE children acrossNorthern Ireland could be pushed into poverty with the introduction of welfare reforms, it has been claimed.
- Investment in early childhood has lifelong yields (the Drum opinion 26.04.2012)
Neuroscience research suggests that 80 per cent of our brain development occurs between conception and the age of three. By age four, 92 per cent of our brain has developed. The discovery of the rapid pace of brain growth during our youngest years is causing us to rethink the way we view early childhood.
- UNICEF Executive Director announces new global immunization strategy (UNICEF 25.04.2012)
This week, UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake, alongside partners in the newly renamed Measles and Rubella Initiative, launched a new global strategy aimed at reducing measles deaths and congenital rubella syndrome to zero. The announcement coincided with the first-ever World Immunization Week, and was accompanied by new data showing that accelerated efforts have resulted in a 74 per cent reduction in global measles mortality, from an estimated 535,000 deaths in 2000 to 139,000 in 2010.
- Timely malaria treatment a matter of life and death for Congolese children (the Guardian Poverty Matters Blog 25.04.2012)
Malaria claims thousands of young lives in the DRC each year, but a successful project in remote Kimbi shows it needn't be so
- School attendance falls in northern Nigeria after Boko Haram attacks (the Guardian Global Development Blog 24.04.2012)
So far this year 14 schools have been burnt down in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state in northern Nigeria, forcing over 7,000 children out of formal education and pushing down enrolment rates in an already ill-educated region. In a video posted on YouTube in February, Boko Haram, the Islamic jihadist group based in Nigeria, called on its followers to destroy schools providing western education
- Rotavirus vaccines, potential to save 2.4 million lives (GAVI Alliance 24.04.2012)
Rotavirus vaccines offer the best hope for preventing severe rotavirus disease and the deadly dehydrating diarrhoea that it causes. Diarrhoea is one of the top two killers of children under five years of age worldwide, and rotavirus is the leading cause of severe and fatal diarrhoea in infants and young children. Each year, rotavirus causes more than 450,000 deaths in children under five and is responsible for millions of hospitalizations and clinic visits.
- A New Take on No Excuses - Tackling Poverty to Provide Meaningful Opportunity (the Huff Post Education Blog 25.04.2012)
We all know that factors related to poverty can limit learning in a number of ways. Lack of quality early-childhood care and education impedes healthy development and kindergarten readiness. Inadequate access to preventive and basic remedial health care substitute sick days and emergency room visits for classroom time and reduce student awareness and focus in class.
- Violence and neglect changes DNA in children (ABC 2 24.04.2012)
University of Maryland Child Development Lab Director Nathan Fox says this latest study by Duke University researchers’ point













