Joint Child Psychosocial Support Mission Concludes; Urgent Needs Defined
BEIJING, May 28 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- A UNICEF emergency relief shipment containing 100 tons of health and nutritional supplies for children and pregnant women will arrive in Sichuan on Friday May 30. The shipment of “emergency health kits” consisting of basic medicines and equipment, nutritional supplements and obstetric supplies will arrive by air from the UNICEF global warehouse in Denmark. Once in Chengdu the goods will be transported to the thirteen counties worst hit by the May 12 earthquake.
The supplies will provide support for the basic health needs of 1.4 million people over three months and for the safe handling of up to 2,000 complicated deliveries. UNICEF is working closely with national and local authorities to coordinate the massive shipment.
This first of several health related consignments to be shipped in by air by UNICEF includes 140 emergency health kits covering the needs of a population of 10,000 people, 80 neo-natal resuscitation kits, 80 sterilization kits and special nutritional supplements for 110,000 children under five and 42,000 pregnant women.
Children who have been relocated in temporary camps and shelters are at higher risk of common diseases such as diarrhoea and respiratory infections which can cause serious problems in young children.
Dr. Yin Yin Nwe, UNICEF Representative and UN Disaster Management Team Chair said today: “We are very pleased to see our first shipment of health kits and nutritional supplements reaching Sichuan. These supplies will go to the worst hit counties to help with both the emergency related and routine health problems in these areas. The nutritional supplements will help children and pregnant women stay healthy and resist infections.”
Dr. Nwe returned Saturday from UNICEF’s recent mission with Chinese government officials to support efforts to help children recover from post-earthquake psychosocial stress. The mission has identified four major categories of children most in need of psychosocial support: (a) surviving children in pre-existing orphanages, who have now been hastily evacuated to makeshift camps; (b) surviving children in boarding schools in the earthquake zones who do not know how to find their parents; (c) children who were at home with their parents in the earthquake zones, but who have lost their parents in the earthquake; (d) children disabled by injuries from the earthquake. All four groups are urgently in need of immediate psychosocial services, which UNICEF and counterparts are now the process of organizing. Registration and tracing are also urgent priorities. There are at least 5,498 unaccompanied children in the earthquake affected areas.
“Children are under great stress.” Said Dr Nwe, “One young boy I met had lost both parents and could only state his name and no other facts about his life. All partners concerned with protecting these children have a huge task in front of them.”
About UNICEF in China: UNICEF first assisted China between 1947 and 1951, providing emergency services, food and nutrition, health and hygiene training during and after the Revolutionary War. In 1979 UNICEF officially commenced its cooperation with the Government of China to support child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is on the ground in over 150 countries and territories to help children survive and thrive, from early childhood through adolescence.
