The active volcano on Vanuatu’s Ambae island has caused total evacuation.
We ask Andrew Parker, Chief of UNICEF Pacific Vanuatu Field Office – what happened, what UNICEF is doing to help affected communities & what are the long term challenges? Stress and Trauma for children? Education? Health and Health services? Where do people go? Health? Nutrition? Issues for host communities? He answers in our interview from Vanuatu.
Vaccination campaign launched to protect every child and adolescent in Fiji against meningococcal disease
SUVA, 14 May 2018 – Soon every child and adolescent in Fiji will have the chance to be protected against meningococcal C after a recent outbreak of the disease, with the Government of Fiji’s vaccination campaign set to launch on 14 May, supported by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO).
This country-wide mass vaccination campaign aims to vaccinate up to 325,000 children and adolescents against meningococcal C disease – the age group most at risk of getting the disease.
SUVA, 13 February 2018 – As Tropical Cyclone Gita intensifies, the strongest storm to ever hit Tonga, and heads towards Fiji, UNICEF offers its support to the affected Pacific island countries of Samoa, Tonga and Fiji.
“UNICEF is ready to support the Governments of Tonga and Samoa respond to the emergencies caused by Tropical Cyclone Gita. We are also on standby to provide support to the Government of Fiji as they brace for Cyclone Gita,” said Sheldon Yett, UNICEF Pacific Representative.
In Tonga, about 80,000 people, including 32,000 children, are at risk from the Category 4 Tropical Cyclone Gita that hit on Monday night, with widespread damage to infrastructure and floods reported.
“UNICEF is prepared to support the governments’ response, to ensure urgent life-saving support is provided, including access to clean water, sanitation and hygiene for those families affected,” he added.
UNICEF is working closely with the Tongan National Emergency Office and the UN Coordination office in Tonga to coordinate activities and respond as required. Emergency supplies including portable water field test kits, to check for safety of drinking water; Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Kits, which include purification tablets; water containers and hygiene products such as soap and menstrual hygiene products; inter-agency emergency health kits that include medicines, micronutrient powders, Vitamin A capsules; and tents, are being prepositioned for shipment to Tonga.
In Samoa, basic emergency supplies are already available and have been offered to the Samoan government if required to support the needs of affected children and families affected.
Supplies are also prepositioned in Fiji for use to affected areas and the National Disaster Management Office in Fiji have been offered the use of RapidPro – an open-source platform of applications that can help the government deliver information quickly and connect communities to lifesaving services through the short message service (SMS) for mobile phones.#####
For more information, please contact:
Cate Heinrich, UNICEF Pacific,
Tel: +679 9925 606, cheinrich@unicef.org
Donna Hoerder
Communication Specialist – External Relations,
UNICEF Pacific
Phone: (679) 323-6100 Email: dhoerder@unicef.org
Warning. This animation is based on real life drawings by children in UNICEF-supported child friendly spaces in emergencies across the world.
Honiara, 3 January 2017 – UNICEF continues to support the current emergency response efforts to affected communities in Makira province with the provision of education, water and hygiene supplies, following the 7.8 magnitude earthquake in early December 2016.
These supplies are sufficient to meet the needs of 12,500 people and include 3000 pieces of hand washing soaps, 5000 water containers, two cartons of Information, Education and Communication (IEC) materials carrying messages on hygiene practices, 12 tents and tarpaulins for affected schools.
(L-R): Outgoing UNICEF Pacific Representative Dr Karen Allen with newly appointed Representative Mr Sheldon Yett in Suva. (Photo credit: UNICEF Pacific/2016/Hing)
SUVA, FIJI. 26 August 2016 – UNICEF is pleased to announce the arrival of Mr. Sheldon Yett as the new UNICEF Pacific Representative, replacing Dr. Karen Allen.
Mr. Yett, is the new accredited Representative of the United Nations Children’s Fund to the Pacific island countries of the Cook Islands, Fiji, Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.
Mr. Yett presented his credentials this morning to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Permanent Secretary, Ambassador Ravindran Nair. In the coming months, Mr. Yett will be travelling to other countries in the Pacific region to present his credentials and meet staff and partners.
SUVA, 14 June 2016 – The Government of Nauru has reinforced its commitment to children’s rights by adopting a comprehensive and forward-looking Child Protection Act.
Nauru’s Parliament passed the Child Protection and Welfare Act on 10 June, ushering in legal provisions for the welfare, care and protection of all children in Nauru, and for the enforcement of children’s rights under various international conventions, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
In announcing the new Act, Nauru’s Minister for Home Affairs Charmaine Scotty, noted that “The Act recognises the value of Nauruan tradition, culture and community values, except where such matters conflict with the rights of children as provided for in the Act. In doing so, the Government has made a strong commitment to the protection of all children in Nauru, today, and tomorrow.”
30 May 2016 – The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has expressed alarm at the number of migrant and refugee deaths in the past week in the Central Mediterranean, many of whom were believed to be unaccompanied minors.
In anticipation of a major summer upswing of child migrants using the dangerous crossing between Libya and Italy UNICEF will shortly begin an operation with the Italian Government and partners to provide protection support, the agency said yesterday in a press release.
The agency noted the vast majority of children using the crossing are unaccompanied adolescents and they have faced appalling abuses, exploitation and the possibility of death at every step of their journey.
“The stories which I have personally heard from children making this journey are horrifying. No child should face them. Their lives are in the hands of smugglers who care for nothing other than the money they exhort from them,” said Marie-Pierre Poirier UNICEF special coordinator for the European Refugee and Migrant Crisis.
An average of 1,000 unaccompanied children a month has arrived in Italy this year, but UNICEF expects this figure to spike in the coming months.
Under the Joint Declaration of Intent signed with the Italian Government, UNICEF will:
Monitor reception standards for refugee and migrant children, especially those who are unaccompanied, to ensure they are in line with the Convention on the Rights of the Child;
Monitor the situation of refugee and migrant children in reception centers, particularly in the regions of Calabria, Campania and Sicily, in southern Italy; and
Monitor all actions aimed at the integration of migrant and refugee children into Italian society.