Say Yes, Autumn 2002: In This Issue

CALLING THE SHOTS ON POLIO

The development of vaccines to prevent polio was one of the major medical breakthroughs of the twentieth century -- thanks to Dr Jonas Salk, whose research led to the development of the inactivated polio virus (IPV) in 1952 and, following tests, the first immunisation campaigns of 1955.

Dr Albert Sabin developed a live oral polio vaccine (OPV) in 1961 which was even cheaper to produce than the relatively inexpensive IPV making it ideal for use by public health programmes on National Immunisation Days (NIDs). OPVs have the additional benefit of ‘passive’ immunisation of persons in close contact with immunised children.

NIDs conducted since 1995 led to the ‘zero’ incidence of the wild virus in Turkey and the rest of Europe which resulted in the region’s ‘polio-free’ certification this year.

A WHO and UNICEF measles elimination campaign similar to the successful polio campaign is proposed as a new global initiative.

Common measles is the leading cause of preventable childhood deaths worldwide.

Read The Polio Endgame.

IODISED SALT

Minute quantities of iodine are needed on a daily basis to ensure healthy growth. Iodine deficiency disorders (IDD) are the cause of myriad health problems in countries such as Turkey where the element is scarce. Children and unborn fœtuses are especially vulnerable to physical and mental retardation of their development.

The solution is to introduce iodine to the food chain through the simple, inexpensive means of iodising salt. In order to ensure universal consumption of requisite amounts of the trace element, iodisation of table salt was made compulsory in Turkey in 1998.

A recent survey by the Middle Eastern Technical University shows that although 64% of households now use iodised salt, there remains a need to:

• improve distribution of iodised salt;
• further educate families on the benefits of iodised salt;
• promote iodised salt content on packaging to maximise usage.

Read Add A Little Salt.

GIRLS’ SCHOOLING

At the time of Turkey’s Demographic Health Survey (TDHS) in 1998 over 50% of girls had never enrolled for secondary education, 40% had not finished their primary education and 25% had never enrolled at all. Why? The answer is a complex of traditional mores and harsh economic realities where the development potential of young women and girls sadly comes second in favour of the family’s short-term survival.

The Ministry of National Education (MONE) and UNICEF are determined to ensure that the situation is rectified before 2005 by:

• raising awareness at the provincial, village and community and familial levels of the importance of girls’ education in terms of personal, social and economic development;
• promoting the fact that, as primary carers of the future, failure to educate girls will be detrimental to the health and well being of future generations;
• promoting child-friendly learning environments in primary schools to better accommodate girls.

By convincing parents to send their daughters to school and increasing the commitment of community leaders, it is expected that the depressing statistics above will be turned around and that all girls will eventually complete their compulsory education.

Read Back to School.

UNSUNG HEROES

As UNICEF works to improve every aspect of children’s lives around the world, the question of supplies is never far behind any initiative. Educational programmes need books, paper, pens, toys -- even schoolrooms. There are vaccines, medicines, and surgical equipment to acquire for our health programmes. Dispossessed people in disaster areas and war zones need to be clothed, fed and sheltered -- often within a question of hours or days.

And where does it all come from?

Last year the Ankara Regional Procurement Centre secured and distributed goods to the value of US$15 million mostly for Iraq and Afghanistan. At the crossroads of Europe, Asia and Africa, Ankara RPC also services the CEE/CIS region.

Read Supply on Demand.

FUNDING

At UNICEF Turkey, we are confident that the goals we set for 2005 are well on their way to being met. As always, we are looking to our donors for support to ensure that our projects and initiatives in Turkey are sufficiently funded in order to succeed. To this end, we are featuring a broad outline of our unfunded projects in this issue.

We can also send you a copy of our Donor Funding Catalogue which details the particular goals, objectives and strategies of each project and the budgets required to make them work for Turkey’s children. If you’ve already decided to make a contribution, use the Support Us link at the bottom of this page to make a contribution direct to UNICEF Turkey’s National Committee.

Should you prefer to telephone or write to us, see the Contact Us section for details of the Turkish National Committee for UNICEF Offices in Ankara and İstanbul -- they’ll be happy to hear from you.

Read Can We Bank on Your Support? -- our short guide to unfunded UNICEF programmes and projects in Turkey.