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UNICEF calls for additional resources to fight hunger, famine in Somalia

Though the humanitarian response to the food crisis in the Horn of Africa has lessened the suffering of thousands of people in the region, "more resources are needed to save the lives of hundreds of thousands of children in famine-hit areas of Somalia, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said" in a progress report released Thursday, the U.N. News Centre reports.

22 Oct 2011

Bullying kills a teenager yet again in U.S.

Bullying has claimed another life. In Washington Wednesday, the Department of Education hosted its second annual summit to combat bullying. It's a nationwide problem that was painfully highlighted this week by the death of a high school freshman from Buffalo.

22 Sep 2011

Medical professionals play a role in prevention of abuse, harassment and bullying in sport

Sport and exercise medicine professionals have an important responsibility to protect the athletes under their care against abuse, harassment, and bullying, according to a position paper published in the September issue of Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine.

31 Aug 2011

UNICEF-funded study shows extent of violence against children in Tanzania

According to a study published Tuesday by Muhimbili University in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in collaboration with the CDC and funded by UNICEF, "nearly three out of every 10 girls and nearly three out of every 20 boys in Tanzania claim to have experienced sexual violence," the Guardian's "Poverty Matters Blog" reports.

10 Aug 2011

Jill Biden leads U.S. delegation to Kenya to assess conditions in Horn of Africa

Jill Biden, the wife of Vice President Joe Biden, USAID Administrator Raj Shah, Assistant Secretary of State Eric Schwartz and Special Assistant to the President Gayle Smith arrived in Kenya on Monday to assess and raise awareness of the famine conditions in the Horn of Africa, Capital FM News reports.

9 Aug 2011

National campaign to eradicate child heat stroke deaths in vehicles

Safe Kids USA today called on government, advocacy groups, automakers and car seat manufacturers to combine efforts to eliminate child heat stroke deaths in vehicles by 2013.

30 Jul 2011

UNICEF in new African vaccine drive

UNICEF (UN Children's Fund), has launched a massive vaccination campaign across the Horn of Africa to protect 2.5 million children against diseases like measles, which can be deadly for malnourished children. This drive would include a strategy to vaccinate every child in Somalia (under the age of 15) against measles.

27 Jul 2011

Catholic Church apologizes for past forced adoption practices

According to the head of the healthcare arm of the Catholic Church, they are prepared to apologize to the victims of forced adoption practices dating back 50 years. The Catholic Health Australia admits that “a small number” of church-run hospitals and women's homes maintained unwanted adoption practices from the 1950s to the 1970s.

24 Jul 2011

Severely obese children should be removed from parents, placed in care: Expert opinion

In a controversial new opinion piece in the Journal of the American Medical Association the authors suggest taking severely obese children out of their homes and placing them in foster care. Dr. David Ludwig, an obesity specialist at Harvard-affiliated Children’s Hospital Boston and Lindsey Murtagh, a lawyer and a researcher at Harvard’s School of Public Health, write that in some cases it may be justified to take an extremely obese child out of their parents’ custody.

13 Jul 2011

Panel formed by Mondale and Carlson offers plan to end Minnesota shutdown

A political stalemate between Minnesota's Democratic governor and Republican legislators shows little signs of abating after seven days.

8 Jul 2011

Stress coping strategies in child protection services

The decisions child welfare officers make are complicated and are based partly on their own investigations, partly on cooperation with, and experience of, other local government officers.

4 Jul 2011

UNICEF representative warns Filipino children displaced after flooding face disease risk

About 450,000 children, displaced by severe flooding in the southern Philippines, could face an outbreak of diarrhea and pneumonia, Vanessa Tobin, UNICEF's representative in the Philippines, said on Sunday, Agence France-Presse reports.

28 Jun 2011

New book on issues related to female circumcision

According to a new book by Professor Aud Talle, most Somalis who live in Norway have changed their attitude towards female circumcision and are now against the practice.

10 Mar 2011

Investing in adolescents can help reduce poverty, improve health, UNICEF report says

Additional investment in the world's 1.2 billion adolescents - 88 percent of whom live in the developing world - has the potential to help alleviate inequality and poverty, UNICEF said in its annual State of the World's Children report released on Friday, IRIN reports.

28 Feb 2011

Australian pool fencing laws to become unified and standardized

It was only last month that a child drowned in an inflatable pool at Tarcutta, New South Wales. Now the Commonwealth, state and territory sports ministers have come to an agreement to develop a nationally consistent legislation on pool fencing.

16 Feb 2011

Girls Decide: Putting girls' sexual and reproductive health at the heart of development

There is a growing global consensus that girls are central to global development. Yet issues relating to girls’ sexuality and their sexual and reproductive rights continue to be largely neglected. Girls Decide, a new initiative from the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), highlights the importance of girls’ and young women’s sexual and reproductive lives for both individual and global development, and aims to ensure governments around the world to adopt policies that work for girls.

15 Feb 2011

Australia’s child abuse rates fall but foster care rates rise: Report

Statistics show that the total number of Tasmanian children in state care has risen by 60% in six years. This is the second highest number of children per 1,000 in child protection in the Australia. This means more children are being removed from their families for issues such as substance abuse, mental health and family violence.

20 Jan 2011

Foster care standards formulated

Now all foster children in Australia for the first time will receive individual plans detailing the support they need after leaving care. This comes under the new national scheme wherein uniform standards in meeting each child’s requirements at the time of entering foster care will be ensured. At present child protection systems are different for each of the states and territories. This scheme will unite them all.

16 Dec 2010

New report reveals how African countries are performing in budgeting for their children

A new report launched today by The African Child Policy Forum (ACPF) measures African government’s investment in children and confirms that a country’s commitment to child rights and wellbeing is not dependent on their economic status, but rather on political will and spending priorities.

6 Dec 2010

Queensland pool safety laws tighten

The Queensland Government has tightened pool safety laws and launched a pool safety education campaign. From now on all pool fences will have to comply with new safety requirements within five years. Safety inspections will be required if a property is sold or rented before then. This is the second phase of tough new pool laws. The laws also give safety inspectors greater powers of entry to undertake checks.

1 Dec 2010