Illustrative photo (Photo: VNA) HCM City (VNA) – Only 24 percent of infants under six months old in Vietnam are exclusively breastfed and 22 percent of children are breastfed until they reach two years old. The numbers were released at a launching ceremony of a breastfeeding campaign held by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Ho Chi Minh City on May 15. The rates are even lower among children whose mothers are workers at factories and have to stop breastfeeding early to return to work, heard the ceremony. Lesley Miller, UNICEF Deputy Representative in Vietnam, said the campaign, themed “60 minutes working as a mum,” aims to create a better life for Vietnamese children. The campaign targets female workers at factories, Lesley Miller said, stressing that nursing workers should receive support in breastfeeding in their workplaces. Businesses should give nursing workers a 60-minute break each day in line with the Vietnamese Labour Law and … [Read more...] about UNICEF campaign helps promote breastfeeding in Vietnam
Unicef children
Vietnam’s storm-hit village in dire need of education access for ethnic children
It's been six months since one of the worst storms in years wreaked havoc in central Vietnam, and many poor households in the mountains of Nam Tra My District in Quang Nam Province are struggling to get back to normality. Typhoon Damrey killed 36 people and injured 34, while causing damage worth trillions of dong. On the afternoon of November 6 last year, the slopes of Mount Ong Tuan, which is home to the Ca Dong ethnic minority group, were turned into a burial ground, leaving hundreds of families homeless and almost wiping out the underprivileged area. In the wake of the storm, residents were relocated to a new village called Khe Chu, but still face a serious shortage of infrastructure, houses, fresh water and schools. While the villagers are trying to rebuild their lives, their children are being sent to two temporary classrooms, housed under steel frames and canvas. Ngo, one of the two teachers who works at the "school" in Khe Chu, said the only thing she wants right now is a … [Read more...] about Vietnam’s storm-hit village in dire need of education access for ethnic children
Storm-hit village in central Vietnam in dire need of education access for ethnic children
It's been six months since one of the worst storms in years wreaked havoc in central Vietnam, and many poor households in the mountains of Nam Tra My District in Quang Nam Province are struggling to get back to normality. Typhoon Damrey killed 36 people and injured 34, while causing damage worth trillions of dong. On the afternoon of November 6 last year, the slopes of Mount Ong Tuan, which is home to the Ca Dong ethnic minority group, were turned into a burial ground, leaving hundreds of families homeless and almost wiping out the underprivileged area. In the wake of the storm, residents were relocated to a new village called Khe Chu, but still face a serious shortage of infrastructure, houses, fresh water and schools. While the villagers are trying to rebuild their lives, their children are being sent to two temporary classrooms, housed under steel frames and canvas. Ngo, one of the two teachers who works at the "school" in Khe Chu, said the only thing she wants right now is a … [Read more...] about Storm-hit village in central Vietnam in dire need of education access for ethnic children
Boko Haram has abducted over 1,000 children in Nigeria since 2013: UNICEF
Viet Nam News LAGOS — As Nigeria prepares to mark the fourth anniversary of the Chibok kidnapping, UNICEF reported on Friday that over 1,000 children have been abducted by jihadists since 2013. "Since 2013, more than 1,000 children have been abducted by Boko Haram in northeastern Nigeria, including 276 girls taken from their secondary school in the town of Chibok in 2014," said UNICEF in a statement. "These repeated attacks against children in schools are unconscionable," Mohamed Malick Fall, a UNICEF representative in Nigeria. Boko Haram’s fight to establish a hardline Islamic state in northeast Nigeria has claimed at least 20,000 lives and displaced more than two million people. Schools, particularly those with a secular curriculum, have been targeted by Boko Haram, whose name roughly translates from Hausa -- the language spoken widely across northern Nigeria -- as "Western education is forbidden". At least 2,295 teachers have been killed and more than 1,400 … [Read more...] about Boko Haram has abducted over 1,000 children in Nigeria since 2013: UNICEF
Nigeria’s Boko Haram has abducted more than 1,000 children since 2013: UN
Islamist fighters from Nigeria’s Boko Haram group have abducted more than 1,000 children in the northeast since 2013, the United Nations children’s agency UNICEF said on Friday. The militants regularly took youngsters to spread fear and show power, the agency said on the eve of the fourth anniversary of the abduction of 276 schoolgirls from the town of Chibok, a case that triggered global outrage. “Children in northeastern Nigeria continue to come under attack at a shocking scale,” said Mohamed Malick Fall, UNICEF’s Nigeria head. The agency said it had documented more than 1,000 verified cases, the first time it had published an estimated tally. But the actual number could be much larger, it added. It said it had interviewed one young woman, Khadija, now 17, who was abducted after a Boko Haram attack on her town, then locked in a room, forced to marry one of the fighters and repeatedly raped. She became pregnant and “now lives with her young son in … [Read more...] about Nigeria’s Boko Haram has abducted more than 1,000 children since 2013: UN