Ghana on Wednesday became the first nation to receive coronavirus vaccines through the global COVAX initiative, a partnership supported by UNICEF in West Africa. “The shipments also represent the beginning of what should be the largest vaccine procurement and supply operation in history,” said UNICEF in a statement. “The COVAX…
UNICEF, the United Nations agency for children, warns that some 10.4 million children – all in countries on the African continent with the exception of Yemen – face severe food insecurity and malnutrition in the coming year. The affected nations include Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), northeast Nigeria, the…
A second case of Ebola in the Congolese border city of Goma was confirmed by the World Health Organization on Wednesday, as WHO and its partners marked the one-year anniversary of an outbreak that has become a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC). The fatal case in Goma is…
A Colombian company is partnering with the United Nations children’s agency, UNICEF, to convert recycled plastics from Côte d’Ivoire into modular bricks that will be used to build school classrooms in the West African nation. “This factory will be at the cutting edge of smart, scalable solutions for some of…
Officials with UNICEF, the United Nations children’s agency, warned Friday that conditions in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions continue to deteriorate with 1.3 million people now needing humanitarian aid. The armed violence and attacks have forced 450,000 people from their homes, about half of them internally displaced children, said UNICEF spokesman Toby…
The Central African Republic has the highest rate of child marriage for boys, according to a first-of-its-kind report from UNICEF, the UN children’s agency. The new report looked at data from 82 countries and found some 115 million boys and men around the world were married as children, with about…
In April, partner agencies Save the Children and UNICEF, the UN children’s agency, marked a milestone in South Sudan as they reached 6,000 children reunited with their families – families torn apart for years by the ongoing civil war and displacement. Now, they have a new digital tool to continue…
As the United Nations marks World Environment Day, this year’s theme focuses on air pollution – and that’s a significant challenge on the African continent. A recent study from NASA in the United States found some 780,000 premature African deaths per year were linked to air pollution from different causes….
About 1.6 million children impacted by Cyclone Idai in southeast Africa are in dire need of assistance, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said Saturday in an international appeal for help. The storm affected one million children in Mozambique, another 443,000 in Malawi and 130,000 in Zimbabwe, UNICEF said, adding…
The Nigerian army has asked citizens to tune in Tuesday morning to an interview with its public relations spokesman, one day after the country’s military again accused an international NGO of collaborating with Islamic extremists and destabilizing the nation. Brig. Gen. Sani Kukasheka Usman’s media message followed his statement on…
The Nigerian military says it has lifted a suspension against UNICEF, the United Nations children’s relief agency, imposed earlier because of allegations that the agency was collaborating with Boko Haram terrorists and training spies in the country’s northeast. In a statement issued late Friday, military spokesman Onyema Nwachukwu said that…
The United Nations agency for children is calling for the immediate release of more than 80 people, including students, abducted from a school in one of Cameroon’s Anglophone regions late Sunday. The overnight attack at a Presbyterian school in the Nkwen district of Bamenda was confirmed by government spokesman Issa…
Nigerian officials confirmed the death of an aid worker held by Boko Haram on Monday, a day after the extremists aligned with Islamic State threatened to kill her within 24 hours. The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, condemned the death of Hauwa Mohammed Liman, above, and extended Nigeria’s…
Another 200 children were released by armed groups in South Sudan this week, bringing the total of such releases to 806 this year. They came primarily from the SPLA-IO opposition group, with eight of them associated with the National Salvation Front (NSF). “Every a time a child is released and…
International humanitarian aid organization Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has pulled out of its medical operations in Rann, Nigeria, following last week’s violent attack on humanitarian aid workers. The group said it evacuated 22 national and international staff following the deaths of at least four aid workers killed during an attack…