New York, Sep 22 2010 - Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today began a massive drive to save the lives of over 16 million women and children, with more than $40 billion already committed to scale up health services worldwide. “The 21st century must be and will be different for every woman and every child,” said Mr. Ban, who launched the Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health at UN Headquarters on the margins of a high-level summit on the Millennium Development Goals  MDGs, a series of globally agreed social and economic targets with a 2015 deadline, include a number of health objectives, such as Goal 4 on reducing the mortality rate for children under the age of five by...

22nd September New York - The UN MGDs Summit in New York was the final call to accelerate the progress and put lagging behind countries back on track. The Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP), CIDSE and Robert Bissio from Social Watch comment on the outcome of the Summit. GCAP A high-profile anti-poverty summit at the United Nations has fallen far short of expectations as world leaders have failed to demonstrate the political will required to meet key poverty eradication targets. “This is not the breakthrough plan that we need to achieve the MDGs by 2015,” says Kumi Naidoo, co-chair of the Global Call to Action Against Poverty and the Executive Director of Greenpeace Int'l. �...

Geneva, September 21st, 2010 - A new study by the United Nations Human Rights office has identified “serious protection gaps for migrant children in every region of the world.” It calls on countries of origin, transit and destination to adopt a child-sensitive and rights-based approach to protect the human rights of children at all stages of the migration process.   The study points out that children in the context of migration, including children left behind and children on the move, are particularly at risk of      discrimination, violence and abuse. “Often the object of suspicion, neglect and abuse, children are locked up in immigration de...

Paris, September 9th, 2010. Heads and Deputy Heads of State, education ministers, experts and representatives from civil society from around the world will meet in Moscow from 27-29 September to examine ways of accelerating access to Early Childhood Care and Education. They will be attending the first World Conference on Early Childhood Care and Education: Building the Wealth of Nations, which is being organized by UNESCO, the Government of the Russian Federation and the City of Moscow. UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova will open the event with the Mayor of Moscow Yuri Luzhkov the Russian Federation’s Minister of Education and Science Andrei Fursenko, who will also presid...

Paris, September 8th, 2010. UNESCO is launching today a new Knowledge and Innovations Network for Literacy (KINL) that will enable researchers and practitioners all over the world to link up and share information and best practices. The network’s launch will be a highlight of International Literacy Day celebrations today at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris. The annual 2010 International Literacy Prize awards ceremony and a round table on Literacy and Women’s Empowerment are the other main events of the Day. In addition, UNESCO’s Director-General Irina Bokova will be in New York to give a keynote address at the international conference “Literacy: an essential foundation for developmen...

24 August 2010, Sahel Region -  A nutrition survey carried out by humanitarian organisation Action Against Hunger | ACF International in Western Chad reveals that one in four children under five years old suffer from malnutrition. In response, ACF International has scaled up its activities to treat thousands of malnourished children with the condition in the region. The organisation also highlights the urgent need for long-term preventative measures to strengthen local health systems.New nutrition surveys carried out by Action Against Hunger in the Sahel region of Chad in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, UNICEF and the WFP (World Food Programme) and funded by DFID (UK Departme...