Media releases
The latest media releases from UNICEF Australia.
04.03.10 –Jeanne *(not her real name) sits on a mattress in her tent surrounded by another 45 families in the spontaneous settlement that has sprung up in Port au Prince. Through the plastic walls of the tent, the afternoon sun burns and she tells me her story.
01.03.10 – Malcolm Turnbull MP, Federal Member for Wentworth, made a visit today to Clovelly Public School to recognise the impressive efforts of students who have helped raise valuable funds for school children in Mozambique.
28.02.10 – UNICEF and its UN partners are monitoring events and stand ready to help in the aftermath of an 8.8-magnitude earthquake that shook Chile early Saturday.
26.02.10 – It's twelve o’clock in Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince, 45 days after a devastating earthquake left over 1.1 million people homeless, and it’s especially hot.
23.02.10 – Sandrine and Sandra are twins, peaceful in their mother’s arms. Each has just been vaccinated for diphtheria, tetanus and pertusis.
18.02.10 – Cyber criminals are seeking to deceive Australians donating to the Haiti earthquake with a number of online scams being reported following the devastating January earthquake.
18.02.10 - On our first day in Port-au-Prince, we went out with the UNICEF nutrition team to visit several baby tents. These tents are run by Action Contre la Faim with UNICEF support.
12.02.10 – On the one month anniversary of the January 12 earthquake, thousands of children in Haiti remain at risk of hunger, malnutrition and childhood diseases.
10.02.2010 – More than $11 million has been raised for UNICEF through IKEA’s Soft Toy campaign, which saw a record number of toys sold in 2009.
10.02.10 - Three and half weeks after a magnitude seven quake rocked the capital port au prince, Haiti’s Louverture international airport never sleeps. Flights full of supplies arrive 24 hours a day and leave empty..
05.02.10 - As global attention focuses on efforts to provide life-saving support to the people of Haiti, UNICEF today released its Humanitarian Action Report (HAR) 2010.
04.02.10 - There are no simple solutions in Haiti since the January 12 earthquake – only complex solutions to complex problems. The complexity stems from the multifaceted and diverse needs of the millions of people who have been affected by this disaster.
01.02.10 – Evelyne is an eleven-year-old girl with bright eyes and a dazzling smile. Her favorite subject in school is math and like most kids these days, she wants a cell phone.
27.01.10 - Over two weeks have passed since an earthquake turned what was already a desperately poor country into a fully-fledged humanitarian emergency, and the race against time to bring relief to the people of Haiti continues.
25.01.10 - UNICEF is increasingly concerned for the welfare of unaccompanied children in Haiti, amid reports they are being removed from the country illegally.
19.01.10 – There is a hidden army of orphaned, wounded and psychologically scarred children emerging from the Haiti earthquake. They are facing a perilous fight for survival.
18.01.10 - Funds raised through the Qantas Change for Good program are being directed to UNICEF Australia’s Haiti Emergency appeal to help those affected by the devastating earthquake that has ravaged the capital Port-au-Prince.
18.01.10 - The Haiti tragedy has reignited Australia’s compassion with a surge in giving. Emergency appeals last year all suffered from ‘compassion fatigue’, according to UNICEF spokesman Martin Thomas.
18.01.10 - There are fears relief efforts could grind to a halt as soon as tomorrow as fuel shortage and distribution problems start to bite.
18.01.10 - Seven-year-old Jean -Paul sits up in his bed at a small hospital in the border town of Jimani, whimpering in pain. His arm and leg are bandaged and his face is swollen with a badly scraped cheek.
15.01.10 - UNICEF has put into action a $US15 million response in Haiti, focused on providing clean water, medical supplies, shelter and nutrition. It comes as a new UN estimate puts the number of people impacted at 3.5 million.
14.01.10 – A special shipment of emergency supplies is due to land in quake devastated Haiti tonight as part of a major relief effort launched by UNICEF.
13. 01. 10 - The earthquake that hit Haiti today is believed to have caused significant damage to the capital, including to UNICEF’s own office.
08.01.10 - UNICEF emergency teams have commenced assessment of Rendova and Tetepare Islands after a two earthquakes struck the Solomon Islands on Monday 4 January.
05.01.10 - UNICEF Pacific is responding to an earthquake and tsunami that struck the Solomon Islands yesterday, the second major disaster to hit the area within the last three years.
22.12.09 – A week after category 2 Cyclone Mick hit major islands of the Fiji Islands group, the threat of water borne disease still exists.
17.12.09 - What do you give the man that has everything? In the case of Erica Packer, UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and wife of James Packer, the decision was easy.
15.12.09 - We may be the driest continent on earth but over the last two years Australians have bought more than 600 hand pumps for children and their families in impoverished communities around the world.
15.12.09 – UN Children’s Fund staff are providing essential emergency supplies in the wake of a category two cyclone that hit Fiji, leaving four people dead, several missing, and thousands displaced from their homes.
12.12.09 - Singing as loud as they are, one can make out the distinctive voices of Misrina and Bunga above the din of the other young children attending the health centre.
12.12.09 - In the playground of the Muhamadiyah Elementary School 1 and 2 a game of rounders is underway. Waiting their turn to bat, classmates Hafidz and Taufik know they are among a lucky few.
20.11.09 - One billion children are deprived of at least one service essential to their survival and development such as healthcare, education, clean water and adequate shelter, according to UNICEF’s flagship report, State of the World’s Children.
20.11.09 - Children from Sydney’s La Perouse Primary School will join more than 500 children from 20 countries around the world in a global photography exhibition highlighting how all children are equal.
12.11.09 – Approximately 200 million children under the age of five in the developing world suffer from stunted growth as a result of chronic maternal and childhood undernutrition, according to a UNICEF report released today.
10.11.09 - The number of refugees allowed to stay permanently in Australia represents a small fraction of Australia’s overall immigration intake and the percentage of our humanitarian intake is actually falling, a new report has found.
02.11.09 - On the eve of the 2010 Football World Cup in South Africa, this Christmas is the perfect time to get your football skills up to scratch with an ethically sourced football from UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund.
02.11.09 - Almost 3,000 people, many of them children, are still relying on roadside delivery of water a month after a tsunami hit Samoa. The UN Children’s Fund is supporting the Samoan Water Authority (SWA) to provide essential supplies for families in the tsunami-devastated south and southeast of Samoa.
02.11.09 - It was the sudden, eerie stillness at her family’s small paddy field that gave Cici Yuhendri, age 11, an impending sense of catastrophe.
29.10.09 - UNICEF is outraged at the attack on a UN guesthouse in Kabul which has killed five UN staff and wounded nine others. We are shocked and saddened at the targeting of UN workers who are in Afghanistan to support the Afghan people.
29.10.09 - Between 1 November and 24 December 2009, IKEA stores around the world will donate the equivalent of AUD$2 to UNICEF for every soft toy they sell during their €1 is a Fortune campaign.
28.10.09 - Over 200 schools nationwide are expected to be involved in UNICEF Day for Change this year, an education initiative that asks school students to do something different for the day, in exchange for making a small donation to a UNICEF education project overseas.
21.10.09 – The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) are giving full support to a Samoan Government nationwide measles and Vitamin A immunization campaign that aims to reach more than 32,000 children.
20.10.09 — The Indonesian Government has revised the official death toll to 1117 to now include the number of missing people who have not been found since a devastating earthquake struck Sumatra on 30 September.
16.10.09 - Iconic writing brand Montblanc, is putting writing to a good cause by partnering with UNICEF to fight illiteracy around the world.
14.10.09 – As part of the UN Humanitarian Response Plan to the devastating earthquake that hit West Sumatra, UNICEF is seeking US$ 3 million to help meet the costs of continuing its life-saving work and to establish systems to protect vulnerable children.
08.10.09 – More than one million children are imprisoned worldwide and over half of those are detained without ever being convicted or sentenced for a crime, according to UNICEF’s Progress for Children report released today.
07.10.09 - Popular children’s entertainers and UNICEF Australia Goodwill Ambassadors The Wiggles, have lent their voice to a global sanitation campaign encouraging children to wash their hands with soap before and after every meal.
06.10.09 - Thousands of children affected by the devastating quake that hit West Sumatra are now returning to school in special ‘tent classrooms’.
01.10.09 - UNICEF Indonesia is deploying emergency staff to the province of West Sumatra to assess the immediate health, water, sanitation education and critical protection needs of children who survived yesterday’s deadly earthquake.
01.10.09 - UNICEF Australia today launched an urgent appeal to provide aid to the people of Samoa and Tonga following a devastating tsunami that swept the island nations.
30.09.09 - The world is now closer than ever to its goal of the virtual elimination of mother to child transmission of HIV - and a step closer to realising an AIDS-free generation - acording to a new report from UNICEF.
28.09.09 — UN children’s agency UNICEF has provided US $143,000 in supplies to address the urgent needs of affected children and their families in the wake of tropical storm Ondoy.
10.09.09 – A landmark study has revealed the number of children dying from disease and hunger has fallen sharply since 1990 with significant progress being made in every part of the world.
07.09.09 – “UNICEF is extremely concerned and disappointed with the Sri Lankan Government’s decision to expel UNICEF’s chief of communications in Sri Lanka, James Elder."
04.09.09 – The decade-long assault on human trafficking in East and South East Asia has failed to stem the tide of child trafficking and a major rethink is required to beat criminal networks, a new report concludes.
27.08.09 - UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman met with victims of rape and violence in the eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
18.08.09 – Australian fashion designer and UNICEF Australia Goodwill Ambassador, Jayson Brunsdon has donated a $2000 wardrobe to UNICEF to help raise funds for children orphaned by AIDS.
13.08 09 - UNICEF is struggling to respond to a string of global humanitarian crises amid the fallout from the global financial crisis.
06.08.09 - For almost 20 years, efforts to curb maternal deaths in the Pacific have failed to make any lasting improvement, UNICEF has warned.
05.08.09 - Thérèse Rein, wife of the Australian Prime Minister, has become patron of a major UNICEF Australia campaign to tackle the high rate of maternal and child deaths in developing countries.
02.08.09 - Many countries in the Pacific are yet to suffer the full impact of the global financial crisis but it is about to hit the region with all the devastation of a tsunami, UNICEF has warned.
29.07.09 - To celebrate the launch of their 2009 Trinity Collection, Cartier has donated a ring and pendant, valued at over $6,500 to UNICEF, as prizes in an exclusive raffle.
21.07.09 - UNICEF is deeply concerned about the condition of thousands of children who have been displaced by conflict, or who remain in affected areas, in north-western Pakistan.
13.07.09 - Rock band The Killers and MTV Exit have partnerned with UNICEF and USAID, to create a music video highlighting the impact of human trafficking for sexual exploitation. The project has a strong Australian link.
10.07.09 - The Commonwealth Bank has announced it will use its 1,009-strong branch network to accept foreign coins from the public throughout July in support of UNICEF.
23.06.09 - UNICEF Australia has opened a Crisis Appeal for women and children affected by conflict in the northwest region of Pakistan.
18.06.09 - UNICEF Australia has warned that urgent action is needed to meet the desperate needs of affected women and children in Pakistan after an increase in hostilities in the country’s northwest region.
18.06.09 - The changing nature of conflict, including terrorism and the war on terror, are increasing the suffering of children like never before, a new report has warned.
17.06.09 - UNICEF Australia is urging the Australian public to be aware of the emergence of a lottery scam letter currently being sent to people through the post.
16.06.09 - Several African countries have made impressive gains in child survival in recent years but much more needs to be done, UNICEF said today in marking the international Day of the African Child.
12.06.09 - On the tenth anniversary of the World Day against Child Labour, UNICEF joins its partners in calling for action to tackle the underlying poverty that leads to child labour.
10.06.09 - UNICEF and UNHCR are gravely concerned over the extent to which civilians are being affected by the escalating violence in Mogadishu and the human rights violations being committed by the parties to the conflict.
08.06.09 - The Comprehensive Healthcare Unit at Sheikh Yasin Camp is one of four health centres set up with UNICEF support to help displaced people living in camps.
03.06.09 - The global financial crisis, rising food and fuel prices have hit the poor in South Asia hard, with a UNICEF report revealing that 100 million more people in the region are suffering hunger and chronic poverty.
28.05.09 - Three weeks ago, Hanifa and her four children fled their home in Mingora in the Swat valley in north-western Pakistan where fighting between government security forces and Taleban militants has intensified heavily.
26.05.09 - UNICEF has appealed for an additional $41.4 million to provide urgent assistance to people displaced by fighting in northwest Pakistan.
19.05.09 - "It is reported that access to some camps for internally displaced persons within Sri Lanka has become restricted."
15.05.09 - Less than two weeks into a military incursion in Pakistan’s Swat Valley, more children and families are struggling to find safe shelter in camps.
13.05.09 - With more children killed and injured in the past 48 hours, UNICEF today denounced the disastrous impact of the conflict in Sri Lanka on children.
12.05.09 - UNICEF expresses deep concern about the situation for thousands of people who have recently fled armed conflict between in north-western Pakistan.
11.05.09 - Eleven leading fashion designers united this Mother’s Day to raise funds for UNICEF Australia’s Maternal Health Appeal.
11.05.09 - One year after a devastating earthquake hit China, assistance from UNICEF is reaching some of the most vulnerable children and women.
08.05.09 - On the eve of Mother’s Day, UNICEF Australia has warned more than one million women risk passing on a death sentence to their newborn each year.
06.05.09 - UNICEF is deeply concerned at the impact on children of continuing violence and localised conflict in a number of states of Southern Sudan.
01.05.09 - Communities devastated by Cyclone Nargis one year ago have faced formidable challenges during the year of recovery and rebuilding.
30.04.09 - UNICEF today joined the Secretary-General’s call for an end to the recruitment and sexual exploitation of children by armed groups in conflict.
29.04.09 - As the World Health Organization warns of a likely Influenza A pandemic, UNICEF works with UN partners to prepare for a potential outbreak.
29.04.09 - More than three months after the cessation of hostilities in Gaza, the Israeli blockade and inter-Palestinian tension are hampering recovery efforts.
28.04.09 - UNICEF said that 50 metric tonnes of airlifted emergency relief supplies landed yesterday in Colombo.
24.04.09 - For the first time in history malaria is poised to become a rare cause of death and disability, as the battle against the disease escalates.
20.04.09 - As 35,000 people today fled Sri Lanka’s conflict zone, UNICEF said it held grave fears for those children who remain trapped in escalating fighting.
02.04.09 - Children in Pacific Island countries will receive life-saving vaccinations, thanks to a new partnership between SunRice and UNICEF Australia.
01.04.09 - The global financial crisis threatens to create “inter-generational poverty traps” in developing countries.
05.03.09 - 120,000 children have been vaccinated against measles, mumps and rubella in a life-saving vaccination campaign in Gaza.
03.02.09 - UNICEF is seeking $US34.5 million ($53 million) to address urgent recovery needs for children and their families in Gaza.
30.01.09 - An increasing number of children, some just months old, had been injured in the fighting in Sri Lanka.
27.01.09 - The plight of people living in the world’s worst disaster zones has deteriorated in the last year, plunging a further 100 million people into hunger.
27.01.09 - With the return of hundreds of thousands of children to school in Gaza, UNICEF is providing essential educational equipment and materials to children.
21.01.09 - Despite the cessation of hostilities in Gaza children are still being killed by mines and unexploded ordinances which litter their neighbourhoods.
18.01.09 - UNICEF emergency supplies are ready to go into the Gaza Strip now that a ceasefire has been declared.
16.01.09 - After three weeks of fighting, the Office of the UN’s Humanitarian Coordinator reports nearly one-third of those killed in the Gaza Strip were children.
15.01.09 - Women in the world’s poorest nations are 300 times more likely to die in pregnancy or childbirth than women in Australia and other developed countries.
14.01.09 - Over 300 children have been killed and more than 1,500 wounded, since the beginning of the Gaza crisis on 27 December, 2008 as at 13 Jan 09.
09.01.09 - The number of children being killed and injured in the fighting in Gaza climbs and the humanitarian situation becomes more desperate every day.
08.01.09 - A three-hour ceasefire provided a limited opportunity for UNICEF to release some life-saving supplies for families in Gaza.
06.01.09 - The humanitarian crisis caused by the current violence in Gaza is hitting children and women the most.
06.01.09 - In an effort to reduce the suffering faced by children in Gaza, UNICEF is delivering urgent supplies of food, fuel and medicine to Gaza hospitals.