'World Food Programme' uses video games to educate Youths about Hunger and Aid Work

Food Force is an educational video game presented by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP).The project has been developed specifically to help children learn about the fight against world hunger.

Food Force is available as a free Internet download from its dedicated website www.food-force.com . It is the first humanitarian educational video game on the subject of world hunger and the work that goes into feeding people. The game is designed for children between 8 and 13 years of age.

WFP has teamed up with the “Feeding Minds, Fighting Hunger” website to provide downloadable lesson plans for teachers, available in multiple languages.

The lesson plans contain structured information, developed for different school levels, for teaching children exactly what hunger is, why it exists and how it can be ended.

The game itself consists of six missions. Each mission begins with a briefing by one of the Food Force characters, who explains the challenge ahead.

The player then has to complete the task - in which points are awarded for fast and accurate play and good decision making.

Each mission uses a different style of gameplay to appeal to children of all abilities. Each mission represents a key step of the food delivery process - from emergency response through to building long-term food security for a community.

Following each mission a Food Force character returns to present an educational video showing the reality of WFP’s work in the field. This allows children to learn and understand how WFP responds to actual food emergencies: Where food originates, the nutritional importance of meals, how food is delivered and how food is used to encourage development.

The game is also available in Chinese, Finnish, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian and Polish.

Related links:

www.food-force.com

www.WFP.org

International Day of Peace - September 21

The International Day of Peace was established in 1981 by the United Nations as an annual observance of global non-violence and ceasefire. Every year, people in all parts of the world honour peace in various ways on 21 September.

This year, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will ring the Peace Bell at United Nations Headquarters in New York in the company of the UN Messengers of Peace. He has called for a 24-hour cessation of hostilities on 21 September, and for a minute of silence to be observed around the world at noon local time.

Related links:

un.org/events/peaceday
peaceoneday.org
cyberschoolbus.un.org/peaceday/2007
www.internationaldayofpeace.org
Japanese Peace Bell

The Fight Against Malaria

Malaria kills a child somewhere in the world every 30 seconds. It infects 350-500 million people each year, killing 1 million, mostly children in Africa. Ninety per cent of malaria deaths occur in Africa, where malaria accounts for about one in five of all childhood deaths. The disease also contributes greatly to anaemia among children — a major cause of poor growth and development. Malaria infection during pregnancy is associated with severe anaemia and other illness in the mother and contributes to low birth weight among newborn infants — one of the leading risk factors for infant mortality and sub-optimal growth and development.

Malaria has serious economic impacts in Africa, slowing economic growth and development and perpetuating the vicious cycle of poverty. Malaria is truly a disease of poverty — afflicting primarily the poor who tend to live in malaria-prone rural areas in poorly-constructed dwellings that offer few, if any, barriers against mosquitoes.

Malaria is both preventable and treatable, and effective preventive and curative tools have been developed.

Sleeping under insecticide treated nets can reduce overall child mortality by 20 per cent. There is evidence that ITNs, when consistently and correctly used, can save six child lives per year for every one thousand children sleeping under them.

Prompt access to effective treatment can further reduce deaths. Intermittent preventive treatment of malaria during pregnancy can significantly reduce the proportion of low birth weight infants and maternal anaemia.

Ensuring children sleep under insecticide-treated bed nets (ITNs) is the most effective way to prevent malaria. These bed nets have been shown to reduce malaria transmission by up to 50 per cent. As many as 500,000 children could be saved every year if all children under the age of five in Africa slept under treated bed nets. Not only do ITNs provide a physical barrier to prevent mosquitoes from biting children, they can actually kill mosquitoes and other insects. In a Kenyan study, women who slept under ITNs at night gave birth to 25 per cent fewer premature or low birth weight babies than women who did not use ITNs.

To learn more about recent and current efforts to fight malaria, visit:

Malaria No More: Donate Bed Nets
Malaria No More
The President's Malaria Initiative.
UNICEF: Facts for Life - Malaria
CDC: Malaria

Stop Disasters, an on-line game to teach children how to save lives and livelihoods

The secretariat of the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) launches an on-line game aimed at teaching children how to build safer villages and cities against disasters. This initiative comes within the 2006-2007 World Disaster Reduction Campaign “Disaster Risk Reduction Begins at School”.

To access the game please visit: www.StopDisastersGame.org

Related links:

www.UNISDR.org

2006-2007 World Disaster Reduction Campaign

Young voices crucial to fighting AIDS

Today UNICEF and MTV Networks International’s Staying Alive launched a series of online video blogs, called vlogs, as the first phase of Vlogit, a global video project encouraging young people to share through new media how they experience and perceive HIV and AIDS. Globally, 10 million young people aged 15 to 24 are living with HIV and children and young people account for half of all new HIV infections.

Young voices are a strong force for HIV prevention, fighting stigma and discrimination, and working towards and AIDS-free generation. “Poverty is one of the strongest single factors to explain the epidemic of HIV in the developing world,” says Emishaw Tegegneowrk Yimenu, one ofthe youth winners from Ethiopia, whose vlog details the difficult decisions his family must make that bring HIV and AIDS to his doorstep. Mariel Garcia Montes, a teenager from Mexico, uses her vlog to show how a “non-infected teenager realizes how AIDS affects even people who are not infected.”

By encouraging young people to communicate about HIV and AIDS, Vlogit seeks to show how young people are living with and responding to the epidemic around the world. The Vlogit partnership between MTV Networks International’s Staying Alive and UNICEF is part of Unite for Children, Unite against AIDS, a global campaign to provide children and young people with HIV prevention, treatment, care and support. With the launch of the Vlogit site, young people from around the world are invited to upload their own vlogs. The Vlogit website will remain a new media tool to engage young people in the fight against HIV and AIDS.

Staying Alive is a multimedia global HIV and AIDS prevention campaign that challenges stigma and discrimination associated with HIV and AIDS as well as empowers young people to protect themselves from infection. The Emmy award-winning campaign consists of documentaries, public service announcements, youth forums and multi-lingual Web content. Staying Alive provides all of its material rights-free and at no cost to 3rd party broadcasters and content distributors globally to get crucial prevention messages out to the widest possible audience. The Staying Alive campaign is a partnership between MTV Networks International, Family Health International’s YouthNet, the Kaiser Family Foundation, UNAIDS, UNFPA, Sida, and Creative Review. More information about Staying Alive can be found at www.staying-alive.org. MTV Networks International is also an active member of the United Nations-supported Global Media AIDS Initiative (GMAI). Read Full Article...

Related links:

www.UNICEF.org

www.Staying-Alive.org

www.MTV.com

NBA star and Goodwill Ambassador Pau Gasol visits HIV-affected children in Angola

National Basketball Association superstar and UNICEF Spain Goodwill Ambassador Pau Gasol recently visited Angola to see firsthand the country’s fight against HIV/AIDS and UNICEF’s programmes to support children and families affected by the disease.

One of Mr. Gasol’s very first visits was to the Luanda Children's Hospital. Accompanied by hospital staff and the UNICEF Angola team, he met with children and their mothers. Mr. Gasol was saddened to see many children hospitalized with illnesses such as malaria, malnutrition, meningitis and HIV/AIDS.Read Full Article...

UNICEF Indonesia supports community bird flu prevention programme

Hundreds of residents of Curug village were joined by senior officials and UNICEF representatives last week for the provincial launch of the Avian Influenza (AI) Kit, a simple tool that helps empower people in the fight against bird flu.

Curug is one of the thousands of villages across Java and Sulawesi that are holding community meetings to discuss bird flu and, with the AI Kits, demonstrate simple steps that everyone can take to stay safe from infection.

Each kit includes a mask, gloves, soap, educational materials and videos about bird flu prevention – plus a giant banner that each village can put up to remind people to be careful.

The kits, funded by Japan, have been developed by UNICEF in close cooperation with Indonesia’s National Committee for Avian Influenza and Pandemic Preparedness. One hundred thousand AI Kits are being distributed in Java and Sulawesi, and plans are in the works to send more to Sumatra and Bali.

One highlight of the 11 July event in Curug was a declaration from village leaders to continue the fight against bird flu. This commitment includes helping residents keep their poultry in a clean environment, with increased government support for village leaders.

Indonesia now ranks number-one in the world for bird flu cases. To date, 102 people have contracted the virus, and 81 of them have died. The latest fatality, on 8 July, was a six-year-old boy from Cilegon in Banten Province. Initial reports say it is not clear how the child contracted the virus because the family did not keep poultry.Read Full Article...

After the tsunami, education and recreation for Solomon Islands children

Young children living in the western part of the Solomon Islands have faced tough living conditions and a sense of insecurity since a devastating tsunami triggered by a massive earthquake hit the area in April.

Many children lost their schools as well as their homes. Particularly hard-hit were Western and Choiseul Provinces, where more than 35,000 people were displaced, half of them children.

Catastrophic events like this can leave children with a significant gap in their education unless something is done to bring both students and teachers back to school as soon as possible. So UNICEF – in partnership with the Provincial Education Department, Save the Children and World Vision – is working to reach the affected areas with education and recreation assistance.

Since April, UNICEF and its partners have planned for distribution of 60 School-in-a-Box kits and over 100 recreation kits, and have set up temporary shelters for learning and safe play spaces.

Each School-in-a-Box kit contains supplies for a teacher and up to 80 students. Among other materials, the kits provide pens, pencils, chalk, exercise books, markers, flip charts, a blackboard, paint brushes, posters of the alphabet and numbers, and a world map.

Each recreation kit, which benefits up to 180 children, contains handballs, volleyballs, a basketball, skipping ropes and many other items.

“There are a lot of dedicated, hard-working teachers who are going out to assist UNICEF in providing the affected children with some form of education and structured play through the use of resources in the School-in-a-Box and recreation kits,” says UNICEF Child Protection Adviser Natalie McCauley. “After a disaster like this, children need to get back to everyday routines and begin to play and socialize with peers. This programme is starting the healing process for the whole community.” Read Full Article...

‘Social Monitor’ finds 18 million children in poverty in southeastern Europe and CIS

Some 18 million children are still living in extreme poverty in the countries of southeastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States – most of them former Soviet bloc nations. Even though the region’s economic recovery has improved conditions for most adults, the ‘Innocenti Social Monitor 2006’ report shows that many children are not seeing similar benefits. Continued...

UNICEF correspondent Rachel Bonham Carter reports on the Innocenti Research Centre's 'Social Monitor 2006' report on child poverty. Credits: Producer:Rachel Bonham Carter

For more UNICEF Video Please Visit YouTube.com/UNICEF

Darfur Can't Wait

Your help will make the difference between life and death.

To learn how you can help please visit www.AidDarfur.org

Your help is urgently needed to save lives in Darfur.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed in Sudan's Darfur region. Over 200,000 have fled across the border to Chad. Millions more are homeless. Most are women and children, terrified while the fighting continues.

Refugee Film Festival Tokyo - July 18-26 2007

UNHCR Representation in Japan and Japan for UNHCR announce the launch of the second annual Refugee Film Festival, to be held in Tokyo this month.

Following the success of the first festival last year, Refugee Film Festival 2007 showcases an expanded line-up of thirty award-winning feature films and documentaries portraying stories of resilience and inspiration of people forced to leave their homes due to war and persecution. The festival opens 18 July with the Japan premiere of Iraq in Fragments, winner of the Sundance award for Best Director and Academy Award-nominee, illuminating war-torn Iraq through the eyes of ordinary Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds. The closing film on 26 July is Shooting Dogs, a portrait of humanity in the most inhumane circumstances in Rwanda.

Exclusive to this year’s festival is a retrospective tribute to Cambodian filmmaker and former refugee Rithy Panh, featuring eight of his films and a discussion with the director himself. The festival also includes a documentary highlighting the remarkable life of Chiune Sugihara, Japan’s consul to Lithuania who helped save the lives of thousands of Jewish refugees during the Holocaust.

The films will be screened free of charge at four venues: L’Institut Franco-Japonais de Tokyo, Goethe-Institut Japan, Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Tokyo, and Embassy of Sweden. All film screenings will be followed by a Q&A session.

The Refugee Film Festival is part of UNHCR’s year-round commitment to raising awareness of the plight of the world’s ever-increasing 33 million refugees. It is the festival’s aim to give a voice to seldom-heard stories of hope, despair, and courage, and to inspire involvement of the public in making a difference. Angelina Jolie, UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador, has expressed her support stating, "Film is an important medium to introduce the many aspects of the lives and circumstances of refugees across the world, and through this entertainment vehicle, create better awareness and understanding."

For a complete list of films, screening times, and special events, please visit the official Refugee Film Festival website, www.refugeefilm.org

Source:refugeefilm.org

Carly, a refugee's story

Carly, a refugee's story

Carly is forced to flee her home and leave everything behind. All alone, she sets out to find help in other lands. She encounters the Stone-eaters, Smoky-crows, and Silk-tails. But none of them will help her because she is "strange and different from them." "Where will Carly find the safety and warmth of a new family?

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Last year one of worst ever for refugees

By Jeremy Clarke,
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Last year was one of the worst on record for refugees and the crisis is deepening in 2007 thanks to conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia and Sudan's Darfur region, the United Nation's refugee chief said.

But the accelerating return of refugees to their homes in south Sudan in 2007 -- some after more than two decades -- is one bright spot in the otherwise bad year, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said.

"It is a very bad year for refugees worldwide. Now there are almost 10 million who have been expelled from their homes by insecurity, and that number is growing," Guterres told Reuters in an interview this week in south Sudan.

In the latest available figures, UNHCR said the number of refugees under its mandate at the end of 2006 had grown 14 percent from the previous year to 9.9 million. Continued.....

For More News about Refugees Please visit: www.reuters.com/news/globalcoverage/worldRefugeeDay

Today is World Refugee Day

June 20 was established as World Refugee day by the United Nations General Assembly as a way to commemorate the courage and triumphs of refugees. It is a day to honor refugees living safe, meaningful lives in our communities and celebrate their contributions to the world.
However, it is important to remember the 8 million refugees who are denied the right to work, the freedom to move, and lead normal lives. Every day is a struggle. And they all need your help.This June 20, support refugees and give them the right to lead normal lives in exile.

Support UNHCR :
Get informed, get involved! www.unhcr.org/getinvolved
Make Dination Now www.unhcr.org/give

Support ninemillion.org :
join i'm and let the giving begin im.live.com
http://www.ninemillion.org/

Support USCRI - US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants :
Give Now www.refugees.org/donate.aspx

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