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Copy of UNICEF issues Haiti emergency appeal for $8.7 million

Funds will be used for “immediate action” in the coming six months

The funds will be used for operations to provide relief for children and women caught up by the collapse of civil authority. These include:

• Obstetrical resources for three maternal wards in Port-au-Prince.
• Temporary schools in tents for 2,500 children, as well as education kits for 10,000 children.
• Temporary shelters for 4,000 families.
• 50 First aid kits for NGOs.
• Routine vaccination, as well as a polio, measles, and vitamin A campaign in April.
• Nutritional supplies to supplement WFP distribution in Port-au-Prince, the north and north-east.
• Medical assistance to victims of rape and street children in Port-au-Prince as well as support to a mobile hospital.
• Enough supplies to reach large numbers of vulnerable children as soon as access along blockaded roads has been negotiated.

Even before the crisis, the situation for Haitian children was among the worst in the world. More than one in 10 Haitian children die before the age of five. More than 200,000 have lost one or both parents to AIDS, and somewhere between 3.2% to 6.7% of females aged 15-24 are living with HIV/AIDS. Maternal mortality is also among the highest in the world.

“We have to keep children alive now by vaccinating them and providing clean water,” said Bellamy. “But we’re also looking six months ahead, and to a range of solutions that are going to be needed to get Haitian children back to school, and to ensure that children and mothers have basic life-saving medical care.”

For further information contact:

Sylvana Nzirorera, Port-au-Prince, +(509) 245 3525

Jehane Sedky-Lavandero, New York, +(1) 212 326 7269

Gordon Weiss, New York, +(1) 917-498-4083

Damien Personnaz, Geneva, +(41) 22 909 5716