July 2011 - The Hong Kong Committee for UNICEF

World Breastfeeding Week 2011 Press Conference Mothers Having High Intention to Breastfeed while Medical Staff Training Being Unsatisfactory

Hong Kong, 30 July 2011 – The Department of Health, Hospital Authority and UNICEF Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative Hong Kong Association (BFHIHKA) joined hands to organise the annual press conference. At the press conference, result of the annual survey of BFHIHKA shows that breastfeeding rate is on the rise despite the high demand on obstetric […]

UNICEF celebrates Global Breastfeeding Week by taking the message beyond health clinics

Global News 00:16

NEW YORK/ GENEVA/ HONG KONG, 30 July 2011 – During World Breastfeeding Week, UNICEF joins global partners in calling for the benefits of breastfeeding to be broadcast beyond clinics and delivery rooms to the public at large, ensuring that young people both in the developing world and in wealthier countries understand the importance of breastfeeding […]

SAVING CHILDREN IN SOUTHERN SOMALIA MUST BE FIRST PRIORITY More than a million children in need of life-saving interventions

Global News 00:16

NAIROBI, Kenya/ HONG KONG, 29 July 2011 – With an estimated 1.25 million children across Southern Somalia in urgent need of life saving interventions and 640,000 acutely malnourished, UNICEF called for all actors to make saving children’s lives the top priority and to urgently support all efforts to reach children in need. “The children of […]

UNICEF faces HK$1.6 billion shortfall in funds to support life-saving interventions for children and women in the Horn of Africa

Press Release 12:00

Hong Kong, 26 July 2011 – In the Horn of Africa, over half a million severely malnourished children are at risk of imminent death. The situation is most dire in Somalia with more than 4 child deaths per 10,000 children every day. UNICEF requires urgent increased donor support to fill the funding gap of HK$1.56 […]

Vaccination campaigns for children underway in the Horn of Africa “Critical lifeline” to protect malnourished children from killer diseases

Global News, Nutrition, Vaccines 00:17

NAIROBI/ HONG KONG, 26 July 2011 – This week, UNICEF, the Kenya Ministry of Health and WHO have launched a vaccination campaign for children living in the host communities around Dadaab refugee camp in Northern Kenya. The campaign will target 202,665 children under five, with measles and polio vaccines, together with Vitamin A and de-worming […]

UNICEF ‘Living Gift’ Raffle Draw 2011 is now launched

The first-ever appointment of an athlete, Mr Wong Kam-po, as HKCU Ambassador Leading local youth to advocate for children’s rights

Press Release 12:00

HONG KONG, 17 July 2011 – Hong Kong Committee for UNICEF (HKCU) has officially appointed the Hong Kong’s best cyclist, Mr Wong Kam-po as the HKCU Ambassador today, which was the first-ever appointment of an athlete over the past 25 years. Mr Wong Kam-po will support HKCU to advocate for issues and struggles faced by […]

Situation in Horn of Africa set to get worse for millions of children

Global News 00:17

NAIROBI, Kenya/ HONG KONG, 17 July 2011 – UNICEF has called for an immediate expansion of assistance across the Horn of Africa’s drought affected communities, to address the dire needs of more than 2 million children, of whom half a million are at imminent risk of dying. With no improvement in the overall food security conditions […]

Feature story: Through the desert storm in the Horn of Africa

Global News 00:17

DADAAB, Eastern Kenya/ HONG KONG, 13 July 2011 – It was a difficult decision, but in the end Hawa Issak decided to leave her home. The drought had destroyed her entire family’s livelihood, her husband had left her and she was pregnant. She did not see any future in Gedo region of Southern Somalia for […]

Somali children and adults wait to register for aid in the Ifo refugee camp in North Eastern Province, near the Kenya-Somalia border. The camp is among three that comprise the Dadaab camps, located near of the town of Dadaab in Garissa District.

In early July 2011, Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia are the three Horn of Africa countries most affected by a deepening drought, rising food prices and the persistent conflict in Somalia. More than 10 million people, including in neighbouring Djibouti and Uganda, are now threatened by the worst drought in the region in 60 years. Somalia faces one of the most-severe food security crises in the world as it continues to endure an extended humanitarian emergency, with tens of thousands fleeing into Kenya and Ethiopia. More than 10,000 Somalis a week are now arriving in the Dadaab camps in eastern Kenya, where aid partners struggle to meet the needs of some 360,000 people, in facilities meant for 90,000. An estimated 480,000 severely malnourished children are at risk of dying in drought-affected areas of Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia and Djibouti; while a further 1.6 million moderately malnourished children and the wider-affected population are at high risk of disease. In northern Kenya, more than 25 per cent of children suffer from global acute malnutrition in the Turkana district the rate is at 37.4 per cent, its highest ever. UNICEF, together with Governments, UN, NGO and community partners, is supporting a range of interventions and essential services, especially for the displaced and for refugees, including feeding programmes, immunization campaigns, health outreach, and access to safe water and to improve sanitation. UNICEF is seeking US $31.8 million for the next three months to provide humanitarian assistance for children and women in the four most-affected countries.

UNICEF estimates the lives of over two million children are threatened by the unfolding crisis in the Horn of Africa Appealing for HK$ 250 million for emergency relief

Press Release 12:00

HONG KONG, 11 July 2011 – The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimates that over two million young children are malnourished and in need of urgent life-saving actions, if they are to survive conditions in drought-affected countries in the Horn of Africa. Half a million of those children are facing imminent life-threatening conditions, with long […]