UNICEF sends 3,000 oxygen concentrators and other critical supplies to India as country battles deadly COVID-19 surge
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NEW DELHI/KATHMANDU, 29 April 2021 – UNICEF has sent critical lifesaving supplies, including 3,000 oxygen concentrators, diagnostic tests, medical kits, and other equipment to help India in its battle with a deadly wave of COVID-19.
“COVID-19 is severely overstraining the health system in India,” said Dr. Yasmin Haque, UNICEF Representative in India. “Urgent action is needed to avert further tragic loss of life. UNICEF has provided oxygen supplies and other critically needed emergency equipment for immediate response while supporting resilience building against recurrent shocks and stresses. Indeed, much more is needed as the outbreak continues to spread rapidly.”
Baseline study on the use of evidence in the UNFPA-UNICEF Global Programme to Accelerate Action to End Child Marriage in South Asia
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Background
The UNFPA–UNICEF Global Programme to Accelerate Action to End Child Marriage (GPECM) promotes the rights of adolescent girls to avert marriage and pregnancy, and enables them to achieve their aspirations through education and alternative pathways.
The strategic objective of the GPECM is to accelerate action to address child marriage by enhancing investments in and support for unmarried and married girls and by making visible the corresponding benefits; by engaging key actors, including young people as agents of change in catalysing shifts towards positive gender norms; by increasing political support, resources, positive policies and frameworks; and by improving the data and evidence base.
We need speed and simplicity to remove barriers to the acquisition, manufacture and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines globally
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Statement by UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore
NEW YORK, 6 APRIL 2021 – “In a little over a year, the world’s scientists, businesses, governments, philanthropists and multilateral institutions rallied and did the unthinkable: They created vaccines to fight a virus that had brought the world to a standstill. And they tested, transported and began to administer those vaccines safely and in record time. This is nothing short of astounding.
“But the fight is not yet over. Variants are emerging all over the world, and with each, the risk of a massive global setback.
No one is protected unless everyone is protected
This is a statement issued by the Bangladesh United Nations Network on Migration
File photo of migrants gathering at the Biman Bangladesh Airlines office in Chattogram for return plane tickets to the Middle East, in August 2020. Photo: Rajib Raihan
The Covid-19 crisis has disproportionately impacted people on the move, and as we now enter the next phase of the response the widescale vaccine roll-out we need to ensure that leaving no one behind and equitable access to vaccines are not just phrases, but practice.
Although the number of vaccinations globally has overtaken reported Covid-19 infections, only a quarter of national deployment and vaccination plans submitted to the COVAX Facility include migrants. Due to the highly contagious nature of the virus, we know that migrants remain at higher risk of infection due to many factors, including frequently overcrowded living and working conditions and lack of access to preventative
Direct and indirect effects of COVID-19 pandemic and response in South Asia
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Disruptions in health services due to COVID-19 “may have contributed to an additional 239,000 child and maternal deaths in South Asia” - new UN report
Kathmandu/Bangkok/New Delhi, 17 March 2021: Drastic cuts in the availability and use of essential public health services across South Asia due to COVID-19 may have contributed to an estimated 228,000 additional child deaths in 2020, according to a new United Nations report. Around 11,000 additional maternal deaths are also expected.
Clinics and other health facilities have been closed and many vital health and nutrition programmes halted as the region battles to contain COVID-19 cases, which numbered 11 million by the end of 2020.