UNICEF Makes Contribution to Myanmar's Relief Work in Cyclone-hit Region

The United Nations children's fund has incorporated relief work into its regular program for this year in Myanmar's cyclone-struck delta area, a UNICEF official says.

UNICEF said its strategy and response in Myanmar's cyclone-hit area was in line with a recovery and preparedness plan launched by ASEAN and the Tripartite Core Group.

UNICEF's engagement in Myanmar's relief work was based on its core commitments for children, Zafrin Chowdhury, a UNICEF official, told Xinhua in a recent interview.

Chowdhury spoke with Xinhua ahead of the 20th anniversary of the 1989 signing of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

UNICEF's program covers six areas, including water, environmental sanitation and hygiene, health and HIV, nutrition, education, and child protection, within the framework of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Chowdhury said.

UNICEF will launch a photo contest with the Myanmar Photographers Association in the capital Nay Pyi Taw on Nov. 20 to celebrate the convention's signing.

The contest will feature children in schools across the country, with the focus on healthy children, emergency and recovery, and children at risk, Chowdhury said.

"UNICEF plays a key role in supporting the government in formulating the first ever national plan of action on protection of children in emergencies, and in the longer term, a national child protection system with improved policies and helping build capacity on child protection," she said.

Chowdhury said cyclone Nargis last year left about 140,000 people dead, 2.4 million affected, and 800,000 displaced.

More than 50 percent of the schools, and nearly 75 percent of the health facilities in the cyclone-hit areas were destroyed or seriously damaged.

As of mid-March, UNICEF had received US$69 million, or 76 percent of the US$90.8 million requested, she said.

UNICEF had conducted relief work from five field locations in Ayeyawaddy division, three of which were recently closed, she said.

Two major field offices in Laputta and Bogalay serve as centers for relief and recovery work in the rest of the delta, and the coverage would be extended to all 36 townships in Ayeyawaddy and Yangon affected by the cyclone, she said.

From 2009, UNICEF's emergency recovery programs would become part of the regular country program, she noted.

Specifically, UNICEF has launched an emergency relief and recovery response to improve access to essential healthcare for women and children to reduce illness and death.

Among the estimated 2.4 million people affected by the cyclone, UNICEF aims to cover 293,000 people, of whom 194,000 were children under five years old.

The coverage of a measles vaccination campaign for children has reached 90 percent and the coverage of routine immunizations in all the affected townships has reached 80 percent, said an UNICEF report on the relief work in Myanmar.

About 80 percent of the affected children and pregnant/lactating women have access to medical care and 80 percent of the basic health facilities have restarted with MNCH services, the report said.

About 410,330 primary school children have returned to classes as a result of UNICEF support to 2,740 affected primary schools.

UNICEF has pledged to continue to improve all the areas affected by the disaster, Chowdhury said, adding that more international aid is still needed for the recovery effort.

(Xinhua News Agency November 19, 2009)