Task #4

UNICEF

UNICEF was created by the UN General Assembly on December 11, 1946 as a temporary organization called the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund to respond to the suffering of children in European countries devastated by World War II. In 1953, UNICEF became a permanent part of the United Nations system, its task being to help children living in poverty in developing countries such as Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America. Its name was shortened to the United Nations Children's Fund, but it retained the acronym 'UNICEF', by which it is known to this day.
This program helps children get the care they need in the early years of life and encourages families to educate girls as well as boys. It strives to reduce childhood death and illness and to protect children in the midst of war and natural disaster. UNICEF supports young people, wherever they are, in making informed decisions about their own lives, and strives to build a world in which all children live in dignity and security.
some facts...

• UNICEF procures vaccines for 40% of the worlds children, which is nearly 3 billion doeses annually.
• They are the largest buyers of mosquito nets, procuring 25 million nets in 2006.
• With educational supplies, over 12 million kids went back to school in 2006 with the support of UNICEF.
• A generation ago, 70,000 children died each day. Today that number has been cut by more than half
• Thirty years ago, 1 in 4 children died before the age of five. Today that number is less than 1 in ten.
• This year, 3 million more children will live to their fifth birthday than in 1990, and tens of millions will lead healthier, more productive lives.
• In 1980, 10 percent of the world's children were immunized against the six killer diseases. Today, that number is over 75 percent.

Click here to visit UNICEF's webpage.