Videos

1. Eradicating polio: reaching the remote populations of Southern Sudan (335 KB).
At a remote airport, a precious cargo is loaded: polio vaccine for the children of Southern Sudan. Ravaged by civil war for the past sixteen years, Southern Sudan has only 40 kilometers of paved roads to cover an area as large as the United Kingdom. Despite the difficulties and dangers, UNICEF helped immunization teams reach more than a million children in the Sudan this year.

2. Vitamin A supplementation in Bangladesh: a double bonus for children's health (299 KB).
In rural Bangladesh, a megaphone is used to alert villagers as UNICEF helps organize a national immunization day for polio. When children are vaccinated, they receive a built-in bonus: a red vitamin A capsule. Vitamin A supplementation can save children from dying of common ailments such as measles and diarrhoea. Just two capsules a year can reduce child death rates by a quarter.

3. In Uganda, caring for children orphaned by AIDS (231 KB).
In much of Africa, a new and tragic generation gap has emerged: children who have lost one or both of their parents to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. In Uganda today, a stunning 11 percent of Uganda's total child population are now AIDS orphans. UNICEF is supporting local Ugandan organizations who are caring for these children as they shoulder the greatest burden of the epidemic.

4. A Ugandan grandmother's banana plantation supports eleven children (391 KB).
In Uganda, grandparents such as 52 year old Francisca Kibetenga are playing a leading role in supporting children orphaned by AIDS. With a loan from a UNICEF-supported citizens' group, the Uganda Women's Effort to Save Orphans, Francisca has bought a small banana plantation. By selling bananas to local villagers she earns enough to support her eleven grandchildren and also pay their school fees.

Audio files: For audio files of UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy discussing the themes of The Progress of Nations 1999, go to the official press release.