XUNICEF News and Views

Each week we present the works of one of the XUNICEF photographers or artists represented in our galleries. Below is a slideshow of paintings by Karsten and Stella Sohns. Karsten and Stella previously contributed to our special edition on the Arts and Artists of XUNICEF. In the slideshow below we have combined their new works with those previously presented. Click on the image below to start the slideshow. Be patient - each slide takes about 10 seconds to load. The first slide may take longer to load. Also be sure to visit our Instagram page and the galleries of all of our contributing XUNICEF Artists and Photographers .

Click here for the full article .  Full report is below in PDF version.

News Quiz of the Week Dear Readers We are experimenting with a new feature - crosswords.  This week is a test-run, so we kept it simple. HINT: You can find the answers to all the questions in the articles which appear this week.  You cannot enter your answers into the crossword online - at least not yet.  Instead, fill in the answers in the form at the bottom of this page and press 'Submit'.   It might help to print the crossword and fill in your answers on the printed sheet, before filling your answers at the bottom of this page.  Be sure to push 'Next' to go to the following answer page and 'Submit' when finished.  Your entry will be automatically recorded. Note that we have added a bonus question at the end - it is a bit more of a challenge. We will publish the correct answers and the winners next week. Also, please let us know your thoughts on this idea. 1 ...

©Balhart Express Note: the full report is available in PDF format below the article. Lead poisoning is affecting children on a massive and previously unknown scale, according to a new report launched today by UNICEF and Pure Earth. The report, the first of its kind, says that around 1 in 3 children – up to 800 million globally – have blood lead levels at or above 5 micrograms per deciliter (µg/dL), the level at which requires action. Nearly half of these children live in South Asia. “With few early symptoms, lead silently wreaks havoc on children’s health and development, with possibly fatal consequences,” said Henrietta Fore, UNICEF Executive Director. “Knowing how widespread lead pollution is – and understanding the destruction it causes to individual lives and communities – must inspire urgent action to protect children once and for all.” The report, The Toxic Truth: Children’s exposure to lead pollution undermines a generation of potential, is an analysis of childhood ...

©The Guardian Ravages of acute hunger will likely hit six in 10 in Zimbabwe: WFP By news.un.org 2 min View Original In an appeal for an additional $250 million to support emergency relief for millions of vulnerable people, the World Food Programme ( WFP ) said that by the end of the year, the number of food-insecure people in the southern African nation, is expected to surge by almost 50 per cent, to 8.6 million. Triple shock That represents around 60 per cent of the population, the agency said in a statement, blaming drought, economic recession and the coronavirus pandemic as the main drivers of the crisis. Galloping hyperinflation has meant that few families can now afford even basic food, WFP said, with the price of maize, the staple cereal, more than doubling in June. Lola Castro, WFP’s Regional Director for Southern Africa, said that many Zimbabwean families were suffering “the ravages of acute hunger”, before appealing to the international community to help p...

©Georgia Today Georgia faces its lead problem head on By Inna Lazareva unicef.org 1 min View Original As part of the national strategy, Dr. Chikvaidze and other medical personnel were provided with additional training to hone their understanding of the problem, including how to identify and respond to potential cases, and to encourage knowledge sharing among colleagues. “Children with developmental issues are now being referred for lead tests,” Dr. Chikvaidze says. “Everyone I know [has] wanted to get tested.” “A moral responsibility” Georgia doesn’t currently have a public laboratory for the type of testing necessary, instead having to test blood samples overseas. And at around Gel 120 (around US$40) each, the tests have been beyond the reach of many Georgians, Dr. Chikvaidze says. UNICEF is therefore working with the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) to establish its own laboratory and is also supporting the government in designing and establishing an e...

Note: To read the Executive Summary of the report or to download the full report, please click here . The annual State of Civil Society Report from the international alliance of civil society organizations CIVICUS has produced results which are reminiscent of their preceding reports , as well as findings from other recent civil society and democracy focused reports that this blog has discussed . The ninth edition of the report focuses on the main trends from 2019. With a view toward making progress in a post-pandemic world, the five-part 2020 report suggests five key areas for civil society engagement: promotion and defense of civic rights and democratic freedoms, rethinking how economies are structured, placing the needs of the most excluded people front and centre, renewing and rethinking international cooperation and international institutions as well as responding to the climate crisis. Making silenced voices heard Despite operating in a regressive environment, spearhea...

Here is the Executive Summary - to download the remaining sections of the report, please click here.

Would be grateful if you can share my best wishes to colleagues who are celebrating Eid. May it bring peace and joy to them and to their families. Many thanks Mary Sidawi

Note: Refers to comments by Kul Gautam My dear Kul, I thank you for sharing your honest and frank note with respect to the UNSG’s lecture on Madiba’s memorial. This is the way of a true, principled friend, who would not refrain from constructive criticism of one which such heavy responsibility, particularly towards the suffering masses of the world. Many of us read and shared the speech and were pleased with the bold SG’s bold stance. I am glad that someone like yourself has been brought into the inner circle of UN advisors, a tribute to the progressive outlook of Antonio Guterres. I will always and forever be grateful for your efforts to leverage your high credibility with the UN to urge efforts to bring about release of my son and myself. It was great that you recalled efforts of Richard Jolly (Adjustment with a human face) which compelled WB and IMF to take the special needs of the poor and deprived into consideration in their austerity programmes and Philip Alston’s...

Note: Article refers to earlier comments by Jan Vandermoortele , and by  Steve Umemoto and Tom Olsen Dear Maria Luiza, Like so many others, I felt very proud & inspired by the brilliant Nelson Mandela Memorial Lecture by our dear S-G Antonio Guterres. It has been a long time since we heard such bold and visionary speech by an incumbent S-G or any other top UN leader. The last time I recall listening to such a speech was Kofi Annan's Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech two decades ago. It is wonderful that the S-G put much emphasis on the need to tackle multiple pandemics - not just COVID-19, but also the climate crisis, systemic racism and other forms of discrimination, and the challenges and threats to the achievement of SDGs. I am glad he emphasized the need for bold and genuine reform of the original birth-defects of the highly undemocratic voting system of the UN Security Council, the World Bank and IMF. My hats off to the S-G for his courage and forthrightness...

IN MEMORIAM                                                 Bjorn Ljungqvist, Former UNICEF Representative, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Dear colleagues, It is with sorrow that I inform you that our former UNICEF colleague, Bjorn Ljungqvist, left us on 21 July 2020 at his home in Sweden. A national of Sweden, Bjorn joined UNICEF Tanzania in 1983 having worked with the Tanzania Food and Nutrition Centre since 1977. His work in Tanzania and the wider dialogue across the East and Southern Africa region led to the development of what became UNICEF’s global nutrition strategy. Central to the strategy was the coupling of a simple conceptual framework tied to an operational “assessment, analysis, action, re-assessment schema. It was approved by the UNICEF Executive Board in 1990. From Tanzania Bjorn moved to Uganda in 1992 as Sr Programme O...