Procuring supplies for children

Warehouse operations

© UNICEF/HQ-05-1097/Christopher G.

Copenhagen warehouse staff pack School-in-a-box kits for shipment to children displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

Some 384,000 kits including custom made sets were packed by the Supply Division’s Copenhagen warehouse in 2008. The Warehouse processed $105.3 million worth of goods, including in-kind assistance.

The Copenhagen Warehouse as part of UNICEF's integrated supply operation

The warehouse covers 25,000 square metres – the equivalent of three football pitches – and is equipped with the latest technology. In addition to housing over 750 different UNICEF supply items, space is loaned to the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) for stockpiling their emergency items. This stock accounts for 30 per cent of the total warehouse volume. The warehouse has a 'Good Distribution Practice' licence to store and distribute pharmaceutical products.

Network of warehouses

Complementing its Copenhagen warehouse, Supply Division manages three strategic supply hubs, established to ensure that in emergencies, children and their families receive needed supplies quickly, with minimum transport costs. These hubs, in Dubai, Panama, and Shanghai, together with the Copenhagen operation contain sufficient emergency supplies to meet the needs of 250,000 people for three weeks.

Pre-packed kits

In line with UNICEF's mandate, Supply Division has developed pre-packed kits that are designed to meet a variety of emergency needs, especially for the critical areas of medical care, children's education and protection. The Copenhagen warehouse stocks components for 38 different kits, which are often deployed in emergency situations. Each kit contains a complete set of supplies and instructions for use, so that they can be distributed to remote schools, health posts or camps and be used immediately. The range of kits include:

Medical care

1. The Emergency Health Kit has been designed by UNICEF and partners to meet the initial health care needs of a displaced population without medical facilities. It contains medicines, medical supplies and basic medical equipment for a population of 10,000 people for three months.

2. The Postexposure Prophylaxis (PEP) Kit is a treatment that is used after an individual has been sexually abused or unwittingly exposed to HIV to reduce the risk of infection. 

3. The Obstetric Surgical Kit has been designed to improve maternal and neo-natal care in situations of development and emergencies. It contains supplies and equipment including surgical instruments, basic sterilization and resuscitation equipment for health facilities to handle an average of 100 deliveries, including 50 with complications and surgery (with an average of 25 caesarean sections).

4. The Midwifery Kit has been developed for midwifes to handle 50 normal delieveries. It contains basic medicines, renewable medical supplies, medical equipment and basic sterilization and resuscitation equipment. 

5. The First Aid Kit is designed for anyone to treat or dress a range of minor injuries and ailments such as a cut finger, minor burn, or eye infection. It can be used in domestic settings or in schools, for example.

6. Diagnostic tests kits: Supply Division provides a range of tests kits to diagnose, among others, pregnancy, malaria, HIV and hepatitis.

Education and protection

1. The School-in-a-Box Kit is used in many back-to-school operations around the world. The kit contains supplies and materials for a teacher and 40 students. It includes exercise books, pencils, erasers and scissors, a wooden teaching clock, wooden cubes for counting, a wind-up/solar radio and a set of three laminated posters (alphabet, multiplication and number tables). The kit is supplied in a locked aluminium box, the lid of which can double as a blackboard when coated with the special paint included in the kit.

2. The School-in-a-carton Kit is a version of the school-in-a-box kit but is packed in a carton instead of a lockable metal box.

3. The Recreation Kit contains equipment for football, volleyball and handball, bowling pins and balls, coloured tunics for different teams and chalk and a measuring tape for marking play areas, whistles, pickets with flags for the field and a slate for keeping score. These can be used by up to 40 children. It comes in a metal box that can be locked for safekeeping.

4. The Cooking Kit includes cooking pots, bowls, cups, and coffee pot. The kit is intended for one family use in emergency situations.

Water, sanitation and hygiene

1. The Basic Family Water Kit includes water containers, buckets, soap and water purification tablets for 10 families.

2. The Hygiene Kit for adults is designed for adult hygiene in emergency situations. It contains toothbrushes and toothpaste, soap, soap box, detergent, toilet paper, safety pins, towels, comb, shampoo, sanitary towels and a washing line.

3. The Hygiene Kit for baby contains toothpaste, toothbrushes, nappies and safety pins, zinc ointment, panties for diapers, shampoo, towels and soaps. The kit if designed for baby/infant hygiene in emergency conditions.

4. The Water Quality Testing Kit is designed to test the presence of microbiological substances, harmful chemicals as well as physical parameters such as colour, taste and odour. Equipment and accessories vary according to the test to be carried out.

5. The Arsenic testing kit comes in various versions, differing mainly in the presentation of reagents (liquid, powder or tablets) for the measurement of arsenic in water. Each of them comes with different accessories.