UNICEF outlines how water, sanitation and hygiene services can be planned, financed and executed to safeguard healthy livelihoods for children in fragile and conflict-affected areas

27 August 2019

Water is at risk of becoming a “threat multiplier” for war-torn countries from Africa’s Sahel region, to the Middle East., with climate change impacts compounding the effects of a growing water crisis and indirectly accelerating hunger and health crises for entire populations. Data published by UNICEF in March revealed that scarce clean water supply could be as deadly as bullets, where children under the age of 15 are nearly three times more likely to die from diseases linked to poor sanitation conditions than from violence.

Fragility and armed conflict have increased worldwide over the last decade, the report notes, displacing millions of people globally and straining host communities that must deliver basic services, including water and sanitation to growing populations.

In fragile contexts, lacking safe water and sanitation further restricts the right to health; shutting down hospitals, increasing exposure to preventable diseases, and exacerbates existing conflicts.

From Cox’s Bazar to Ukraine to Yemen and similar places of extreme vulnerability, as seen, “the situation is dire for children,” UNICEF Associate Director for Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), Kelly Ann Naylor said, acknowledging that conflict-related crises are increasing in frequency, are more prolonged, and maiming the lives of more people.

“Humanitarian assistance alone will not resolve these issues, but through cross-sector partnerships we can build sustainable and resilient water, sanitation and hygiene services that can create a more stable and peaceful future for children and their families.”

Peacebuilding through ‘WASH’

Turning to implementable solutions under way in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Lebanon, Nigeria, Somalia, the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Yemen and beyond, the report aims to replicate and scale up these efforts into a framework for ensuring resilient water and sanitation services for children globally.

In South Sudan, a result of improved sanitation education has aided households in addressing malnutrition and reducing incidents of gender-based violence, while a joint effort by Tripoli and Lebanon to close water service gaps paved the way for social cohesion between the previously divided groups.

In tandem with the Water Under Fire Campaign launched on 22 March, the report seeks to ensure the rights to water and sanitation for all, while moving toward sustainable development and peace.

Nearing 30 years since the adoption the UN child rights treaty, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Ms. Naylor stressed, “there has never been a more urgent time to safeguard the right to water and sanitation for every child.”

Human Rights
Access to safe drinking water is a right critical to a child’s survival, yet protracted crises have left some 420 million children without basic sanitation, and 210 million lacking access to safe drinking water, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Tuesday.


In the first volume of a new report, Water under Fire, the agency outlines how water, sanitation and hygiene services can be planned, financed and executed to safeguard healthy livelihoods for children in fragile and conflict-affected areas.

#UNWomen: Unsung Heroes #WomenHumanitarians on World Humanitarian Day

Humanitarian and Sailing for Peace Ambassador Zara Bayla Juan, 2019 Philippines Heroine Melchora Aquino Vocational Awardee on Women Empowerment, has been teaching and guiding women, men and children on values formation for peace and nation-building since 1987 up to the present 

18 August 2019
Humanitarian Aid

The work of women humanitarians makes a “huge difference” to the lives of millions of women, men and children in urgent need, the United Nations chief said in his message for World Humanitarian Day.

This year’s focus salutes the efforts of women humanitarian workers across the world who rally to people in need and are often the first to respond and the last to leave.

“From supporting civilians caught up in crisis to addressing disease outbreaks, women humanitarians are on the front lines”, said Secretary-General António Guterres.

These unsung heroes have long been working in their own communities in some of the most difficult terrains – from the war-wounded in Afghanistan, to the food insecure in the Sahel, to those who have lost their homes and livelihoods in places such as Central African Republic, South Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

“Their presence makes aid operations more effective by increasing their reach”, said the UN chief. “It also improves the humanitarian response to gender-based violence, which increases during emergencies”.

Marking the official day’s tenth anniversary, the UN is honouring the contribution of tens of thousands of women humanitarian aid workers who provide life-saving support to vulnerable people caught up in crises in some of the world’s most dangerous places.

The day is commemorated each year on 19 August, the date back in 2003 when the UN headquarters in Baghdad was targeted by a large terrorist truck bomb, killing 22 people, including Sergio Vieira de Mello, the UN’s top representative in Iraq.


Across the globe, 250,000 aid workers are women – a figure that amounts to more than 40 per cent of the humanitarian workforce. But aid work is becoming increasingly dangerous.

Since August 2003, more than 4,500 aid workers of all genders have been killed, injured, detained, assaulted or kidnapped while carrying out their work. That averages out to five attacks per week.

Moreover, women humanitarians are at particularly high risk of robbery, sexual assault and other violence.
Protect humanitarians

The UN emphasizes that under international law, all humanitarian workers must be safeguarded.

“World leaders, and all parties to conflict, must ensure that humanitarians are protected from harm, as required under international law”, Mr. Guterres stressed.

And yet, serious violations of international humanitarian and human rights law continue around the world, which “must be investigated and prosecuted” always, he added.

As part of this year’s WHD commemorations, the UN and partners are launching the #WomenHumanitarians global campaign to pay special tribute to and raise support for the work women do to save lives and alleviate human suffering.

The campaign tells the stories of 24 women over 24 hours, to show the range and diversity of their roles in humanitarian action. They include a driver in the Central African Republic who brings food to people in need; a woman who provides legal advice to refugee women and children from Somalia; and a midwife in Liberia who has cared for mothers and babies for three decades and has more than 800 girls named after her.

“This World Humanitarian Day, we showcase the commitment and drive of some truly amazing women in the humanitarian community”, said UN humanitarian chief and Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock. “The dedication of these women to help the world’s most vulnerable people is admirable, particularly those women who are often the first to respond in their communities when faced with a crisis,”

Today, and for the rest of this month, Mr. Guterres invites everyone to share through their online and social media platforms their own “powerful stories” of humanitarian aid workers to “reaffirm our common commitment to strengthening the role of women in humanitarian operations”.

“On World Humanitarian Day and every day, we stand up for humanitarian workers around the world”, concluded the Secretary-General.

The attack sixteen years ago on UN Headquarters in Iraq was one of the most lethal in the Organization's history, and marked a turning point in how the UN and aid groups operate in the field. Here are hear first-hand accounts from some of the survivors.

World Breastfeeding Week Aug 1-7 highlights the critical importance of nursing for children across the globe

This year, the commemoration is accompanied by a fact sheet with new data from the 2019 Global Breastfeeding Scorecard, which revealed, among other things, that only four out of 10 babies in 2018 were exclusively breastfed.

Babies in rural areas were breastfed more than for their urban counterparts and at 23.9 per cent, upper-middle-income countries had the lowest breastfeeding rates.
Breastfeeding at work

UNICEF recommends regular lactation breaks during working hours to accommodate breastfeeding or expressing breastmilk, along with a supportive environment, which includes facilities that enable mothers to continue breastfeeding for six months, followed by age-appropriate complementary breastfeeding.

However, working women lack adequate support.

Worldwide, only 40 per cent of women with newborns have basic maternity benefits at their workplace. And in some African countries, only 15 per cent of mothers with newborns have any benefits at all to support continued breastfeeding.

Paid parental leave

While standards in the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Maternity Protection Convention 2000 include at least 14 weeks of paid maternity leave, it recommends at least 18 weeks, as well as workplace support for breastfeeding families. And yet, only 12 per cent of countries worldwide provide sufficient paid maternity leave.

UNICEF’s latest brief on family-friendly policy calls for at least six months of paid leave for all parents combined, of which 18 weeks should be reserved for mothers. Governments and businesses should strive for at least nine months of combined paid leave.

Longer maternity leave means higher chances of breastfeeding.

A recent study found that women with six months or more maternity leave were at least 30 per cent more likely to maintain any breastfeeding for at least the first six months. Increasing breastfeeding could prevent 823,000 annual deaths in children under five and 20,000 annual deaths from breast cancer.

However, in 2018, only 43 per cent of babies worldwide were breastfed within the first hour of life.

Immediate skin-to-skin contact and early breastfeeding keeps a baby warm, builds his or her immune system, promotes bonding, boosts a mother’s milk supply and increases the chances for continued exclusive breastfeeding, the UN Children’s Fund said.

And the benefits do not end there. Breastmilk is more than just food for babies, it is also a potent medicine for disease prevention that is tailored to the needs of each child – with the ‘first milk’, called colostrum, so rich in antibodies that it protects babies from disease and death.

Moreover, optimal breastfeeding would reduce global healthcare costs by an estimated $300 billion.

From supporting healthy brain development in babies and young children, protecting infants against infection, decreasing the risk of obesity and disease, reducing healthcare costs and protecting nursing mothers against ovarian cancer and breast cancer, the benefits are widespread.

UNICEF/Marco Dormino
A woman breast feeds her premature baby at the UNICEF supported Maternity ward of the State University Hospital in Port au Prince, Haiti.


31 July 2019
Women


While the benefits of breastfeeding for both children and mothers are extensive, policies that support nursing, particularly in workplaces, are not yet available to most mothers worldwide, the Head of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Wednesday.


“The health, social and economic benefits of breastfeeding – for mother and child – are well-established and accepted throughout the world”, according to UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore. “Yet, nearly 60 per cent of the world’s infants are missing out on the recommended six months of exclusive breastfeeding”.




“We need far greater investment in paid parental leave and breastfeeding support across all workplaces to increase breastfeeding rates globally”, Ms. Fore underscored.
Kicking off World Breastfeeding Week

From 1 to 7 August each year, World Breastfeeding Week highlights the critical importance of nursing for children across the globe.