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Prayer shared by Sree Gururaja Forwarding a poignant statement poem written by Dr. John K. Vettath, who performed Kerala’s first heart surgery in India, the 1960s, passed away at 97 on 9th April. His daughter shared the above lines penned by him which he kept on his desk. What a way to look at life as one gets older! Sree

Twitter post shared by Tom McDermott The plight of children with horrific wounds, but cannot leave Gaza for treatment elsewhere.   The European Hospital (Arabic: مستشفى غزة الاوروبي) is a public hospital in Al-Fukhari near Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, Palestine. It was initially founded by the UNRWA with a grant from the European Union in 1989. Click here for the article in UN News "I met a girl at the European Hospital this week. Her name's Juri and she's nine years old...she was in a building, her grandparents’ house, that was struck...she has enormous open wounds that haven't been able to be treated in #Gaza "- @UNICEF spokesperson Tess Ingram pic.twitter.com/9Gd3fPFXwM — UN News (@UN_News_Centre) April 11, 2024

We like to put trust in miracles, and beliefs provoked by the power of the unknown. All my life I have been mystified by inexplicable coincidences––happenings that made me wonder . . .

Twitter post and YouTube video shared by Tom McDermott

Driving into Swan Hill from Melbourne (there are no swans there, nor hills) was a breath of fresh air with beautiful wide clean roads lined on either side by wide green nature strips. It was breath taking, to say the least. 

Article shared by Tom McDermott

Democracy can succeed only if there is a fully informed public as a component of checks and balances in governance. The majority of the public are being influenced by too many factors which the governments are oblivious to, or are unwilling to address as a result of which the majority of the people remain in their private bubble. Some of these factors are seriously influencing the governance, yet there are no movements to remedy the situation. One of the most serious threats to democracy is the ascent of unelected technocrats and businessmen and organisations which are manipulating the governance and public policies, which only benefits the plutocrats at the top end of the food chain. It is gradually looking like a blurred mirror image of feudalism with the spread of new breeds of Fiefs who exercise their authority not based on land but on technology and finance. A big question is, is the government complicit?

Article shared by Tom McDermott

Article shared by Niloufar Pourzand and Robert Cohen

  My view on #Gaza : it is not just a humanitarian crisis; it is a moral one. It is a test for our humanity & ability to save the children’s lives. The action or lack of it, will have a consequence on the future & history will judge our collective actions. https://t.co/4l1qkCZr4n — Adele Khodr (@AdeleKhodr) April 1, 2024

Article shared by Tom McDermott

Article shared by Tom McDermott

Shared by an anonymous former staff member Staff and former staff of UNDP and agencies whose personnel data is managed by UN City in Copenhagen have begun receiving the letter below.  Note below the contact for the UNDP Privacy Team, if you have any concerns. "Dear ........ We are writing to inform you of an event that may have impacted the privacy of some of your information. We are providing you with this letter as a precaution to inform you of the event, our response, and steps you may take to protect your information, should you feel it is necessary to do so. What happened. On 27 March 2024, UNDP became aware of online claims that one of our computer systems had been attacked. As part of our commitment to the information security and privacy of our personnel, partners, and beneficiaries, we immediately activated our incident response team to investigate the claims. Through an investigation conducted by specialists, we learned that an unknown actor gained access to a locally ho...

Article shared by John Gilmartin

Article shared by John Gilmartin

It is with deep sadness that we inform the demise of our dear colleague as per details given below.

Instagram post shared by Niloufar Pourzand

 Facebook post shared by Carol Bellamy

Article shared by Tom McDermott

 YouTube shared by Tom McDermott

Announcement shared by Niloufar Pourzand From: Executive Director

We are disappointed that the Six Year anniversary issues of the past couple of weeks elicited so few reactions from our members. We  want to again thank Paula Claycomb for her contribution on " Gun Control in the US " which was one of the few we got. This week we feature Nuzhat's article on Dhaka . As one of our co-editors for some time but also a regular columnist Nuzhat writes a personal memoir and current impresssions from a recent visit to Dhaka which makes for interesting reading. The survival of children was an important issue in the positive article authored by Bill Gates which was shared by Andre Robertfroid on cutting child mortality in half. The ghost of Jim Grant was evoked by both the article and the comments received. On the other hand we have a number of items related to dire humanitarian situations that are headlined including Sudan, Yemen , Haiti and Gaza/Palestine where children are facing both physical and mental dangers, coupled with hunger and famine...

Instagram post shared by Niloufar Pourzand

Instagram posts shared by Niloufar Pourzand

Article shared by Niloufar Pourzand Excerpts: " Michelle Bachelet , a two-time president of Chile and ex-UN high commissioner for human rights, is the winner of our informal survey on which woman should be the next United Nations secretary-general, starting in the five-year term on Jan. 1, 2027. Following Bachelet is Mia Mottley , prime minister of Barbados.

Sad news from Nuzhat Shahzadi Suleman passed away in January, 2024. A friend from Unicef India informed me about the news. I photographed this photo from his facebook post. He was a communication officer in Unicef Islamabad and later became an international.

It’s very hard to be happy. The whirlwind of constant badgering-challenges gleefully arrests joyfulness . . . Some among us are smarter––they navigate through the chaos with grace, some struggle to surface above the quagmires of heartbreaks. . . What is “happiness?” I keep wondering . . .

He is so often there  Corner of 44th and Lexington  At the breakfast hour  Tall and thin, matted hair Roughly shaven  With his jeans and cane  Talking to the buildings and the air 

Some of those of us who are old enough to remember Jim Grant’s enthusiasm for GOBI and GOBI-FFF, EPI, UCI  and more, were a bit troubled about one of the ‘Fs’ in GOBI-FFF.  It was about Family Spacing which he linked to child survival.  Others were not entirely persuaded by this logic because UNFPA was said to be the lead agency in such matters.

The idea and reality of governance has changed significantly since the dawn of democracy many centuries ago. Almost all countries embraced some form of democracy uncontested as the model of governance with the end of colonialism hoping for a stable prosperous future. People dreamed of emulating affluent western countries as a model for their development. Down the decades since the end of colonialism, communism was on a shaky ground since the 1980s which inspired many countries to change their system of governance. There were nonviolent and violent movements to dislodge autocrats like in The Philippines and absolute monarchs like in Nepal. There were floods of colour revolution as in Belarus, Georgia, Ukraine, and not to forget the Arab Spring that started in Tunisia swept almost the entire Middle East spreading to Libya, Egypt, Syria, Iraq etc. But this wave of democracy suddenly vanished leaving behind destruction and chaos and in some cases installing corrupt leaders as in-charge of ...

 Instagram post shared by Niloufar Pourzand

Article shared by Andre Roberfroid

Newsletter shared by Niloufar Pourzand

New data released by UNICEF reveals an alarming increase in civilian casualties – including many children – caused by the use of landmines and other explosive ordnance used by different parties in the escalating conflict in Myanmar.

"Madam President, Excellencies, Colleagues,

Article shared by Moncef Bouhafa

Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh was named after “Dhakeshweri” meaning the “goddess” of Dhaka. The Dhakeshweri Temple draws millions of Hindus throughout the year. Durga Pooja, the biggest annual festival for Bengalee Hindus is celebrated every year at this temple.

  Pour la version f rançaise, voir ci-dessous

Interview shared by Robert Cohen

Article shared by Tom McDermott

Video links shared by Gloria Kodzwa Sharing the link for the recent Town Hall meetings by the UNJSPF. Note the link for the latest Two Track pension session, and the date and time for the French Town Hall meeting Warm regards, Gloria Click here for the links to all the past and currently planned Pension Townhall Sessions.  The next session will be on  Wednesday, 24 April 2024 . This session will be in French and cover  “ Essentiels sur la cessation de service et la préparation à la retraite ”. 

Instagram post shared by Niloufar Pourzand View this post on Instagram A post shared by UN Humanitarian (@un_ocha)

Dr. Halim Girade Article shared by Andréia Peres Dear colleagues, My name is Andréia Peres and I am working as a consultant in UNICEF Brazil since 2002. I am also a journalist, with a column in Veja on-line, one of the most important magazines in Latin America. In my latest column, I talk about Halim Antonio Girade, former officer of UNICEF Brazil. As a UNICEF member he helped create the most famous public health program: The column is in Portuguese and must be translated. Best regards, Andréia Click here for the English version of the article Click here for the original Portuguese 

Article shared by Tom McDermott

Article shared by Sree Gururaja

Article shared by Tom McDermott

Report shared by Anis Salem

Editor's Note: This suggestion relates to the rerport by Souleymane Diabate on the UNICEF / CIGNA meeting 18 to 21 March. Click here for the report. Dear Editors Greetings from Sri Lanka I am submitting a suggestion as outlined below with regard to CIGNA medical insurance plan for your kind action. Also please forward a copy to Suleymane for necessary action. Kind regards. Farook  CIGNA MEDICAL INSURANCE PLAN “This is a feedback to the report of CIGNA/ UNICEF consultative meeting held in March 2024 and submitted by Souleymane Diabate. I appreciate and thank Souleymane for participating at the Cigna/UNICEF annual consultative meeting and submitting an impressive on time report for the benefit of all of us. I would like to bring to his attention as well as that of DHR, CIGNA and all other stakeholders the urgent need to some form of increase in the current annual ceiling of US $ 250,000 in view of the escalation of medical/clinical/surgical costs and prices of medicines. I...