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.