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  • Article (2)
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Article
30 November 2018
HIV-positive… and fearless
https://www.unicef.org/eca/stories/hiv-positive%E2%80%A6-and-fearless
During the first TEDxYouth event organized on 17 November in Kazakhstan, Baurzhan, age 13, and his mother Aliya spoke about living openly with HIV.  This is his story. Standing before more than 100 people, Aliya asks if anyone in the audience remembers the incident in 2006 when 149 children in southern Kazakhstan were infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) at a local hospital. A few hands go up.  Hesitantly. “Not too many,” sighs Aliya. “That’s 149 families facing profound pain, shock, complete lack of support and understanding.” Indeed, when the news first broke at the time, there was very little by way of public understanding and sympathy.  On the contrary, the families affected have spoken about the pervasive rumors – including one suggesting that a special area would be built to quarantine the families – that they had to endure.  Some families were even broken up.  The sense of isolation still persists for many. “In our society,” Aliya says, “HIV is still perceived to be a ‘plague’ of the 21 st century. These families and children are hiding.  They do not open up about their HIV status. These children are still invisible to society.” Then she adds, “They all live in great fear. All, but one.” A voice chimes in.  “I am one of those 149 children.  I am HIV-positive and today, I am the only teenager in Kazakhstan with HIV who is living openly,” says Baurzhan, age 13. Baurzhan and his mother at their home in Kazkhstan. Working towards acceptance Aliya’s son Baurzhan was just nine months old when she learned that the blood transfusion he had received for treatment was infected with HIV.  When he started going to school, Baurzhan understood that there were different kinds of viruses and one of them happened to be living in him.  He did not feel different, until teachers asked him not to play during recess or physical education class. “We realized that for school to be an understanding environment, we needed to organize training, raise awareness among teachers on the importance of tolerance towards children with such illnesses,” his mother says. The lanky teenager remembers crying in the school gym changing room after his classmate called him offensive names related to HIV.  “I was not ready to hear it.  It hurt a lot.” The incident made Aliya realize that students needed awareness training, too. She helped the school organize lessons on child rights and responsibilities explaining the universality of rights.  After the first session, the boy who had offended Baurzhan apologised for what he had said. “For 11 years, I have been taking medications every day to control the amount of virus in my blood. My immunity is 900 cells. Do you know that the immunity of a healthy person is 1200 cells? So, my immunity is that of a healthy teenager,” he says.  “My viral load is less than 50 copies. This means that I am just a carrier, but I cannot transmit the virus while I am taking medications.” Together with friends, Baurzhan created a self-help group called “Asian teens” where they share their experiences of living with HIV. “I want to support other kids who are living in fear because of their HIV status. I want to be a role model of living openly and without any fear.”  As Baurzhan says these words, the audience erupts in standing ovation. After the TEDx talk, Baurzhan and his mother said that many people approached him and asked if they could give him a hug. “I really liked the feeling of speaking in that room – it was filled with warmth, the audience showed that they cared”, he said. “My friends who are also living with HIV cannot wait to see my video, I think they will be surprised to see the positive reaction my story received.” Baurzhan with his sibling at the family home. Baurzhan with his sibling at the family home. HIV today and steps for the future Since the outbreak in 2006, the HIV/AIDS situation has changed. By 2010, UNICEF helped decrease the rate of HIV transmission from mother to child in south Kazakhstan, which at the time had the highest number of deliveries by HIV-positive women. At country level, joint efforts of the Ministry of Health and UNICEF led to dropping the HIV transmission rate from 10.9 per cent in 2007 to 1.8 percent in 2014. Kazakhstan is now submitting a request to be certified as a country that virtually eliminated mother-to-child HIV transmission. However, more work remains, says UNICEF Health and Nutrition Officer Kanat Sukhanberdiyev. “Globally, we still see that many children are dying from HIV/AIDS. We have a long way to go until children and adolescents with HIV receive the full package of healthcare and psychosocial support.” On this World AIDS Day, UNICEF is calling on the world to increase investments in HIV prevention, testing and treatment programmes.  Otherwise, by 2030, the lives of some 360,000 adolescents will be at risk of AIDS-related diseases. Find out more about UNICEF’s work on HIV in Kazakhstan.
Article
13 May 2021
Safeguarding the health of refugee and migrant children during COVID-19
https://www.unicef.org/eca/stories/safeguarding-health-refugee-and-migrant-children-during-covid-19
"When COVID arrived here, I thought: ‘It's over, it will spread throughout the building’. I didn't think it was possible to avoid the spread of the outbreak. Instead, we have had very few cases and we owe this, above all, to the support we received from INTERSOS and UNICEF."  Josehaly (Josy), a refugee living in Rome A field worker from Intersos fastens a mask for a young refugee girl in Rome. A field worker from Intersos fastens a mask for a young refugee girl in Rome. The ‘RM Child-Health’ initiative is funding work across five European countries to keep refugee and migrant children connected to health services. While the COVID-19 pandemic was not foreseen when the initiative was first launched, the strategic principles underpinning the ‘RM Child-Health’ initiative – flexibility, responsiveness to real needs, and building on what works – meant that UNICEF and partners could swing into action to safeguard the health and wellbeing of refugee and migrant children and overcome intensified and unprecedented challenges. Since the launch of the 27-month ‘RM Child-Health’ initiative in January 2020, activities were adapted quickly to address access to health services during the COVID-19 crisis in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy and Serbia. This €4.3 million initiative, co-funded by the European Union Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety, has shown refugee and migrant children and families how to protect themselves and others, and that they have every right to health care – even in a pandemic. The rapid escalation of the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe in 2020 exacerbated the already worrying state of health and wellbeing of the region’s most vulnerable people, including refugee and migrant children, and has had a protracted impact on their access to health and other vital services. The situation has been particularly dire for refugees and migrants who are not in formal reception sites, and who are, therefore, harder to reach and monitor. Refugee and migrant families living in over-crowded conditions with limited access to sanitation are at high risk of infection. These communities have often had to face a ‘double lockdown’, confined to their settlements and camps and having little or no access to accurate information on protecting themselves and others.  The additional pressures have been severe. UNICEF and its partners in Bulgaria have seen appeals for support double from 30 to 60 cases per day. Far more refugees and asylum-seekers have been in urgent need of financial and material support, having lost their incomes because of the pandemic. There have been increased requests for support to meet the cost of medical care for children, which is not covered by the state budget, and more requests for psychosocial support. This increase in demand has, of course, coincided with serious challenges for service delivery. Restrictions on movement have curtailed in-person services, and partners have had to adapt the way in which they connect with refugees and migrants. The pandemic has had a direct impact on the provision of group sessions to share health-related information, as well as on the timely identification of children and women suffering from or at risk of health-related issues. The impact on vital services for timely and quality maternal and child health care, psychosocial support, recreational and non-formal services, and on services to prevent and respond to gender-based violence (GBV) has been profound. In Bulgaria, UNICEF and its partners were able to take immediate measures with support from the ‘RM Child-Health’ initiative to alleviate the impact, including online awareness raising and information sessions and the use of different channels for communication, including social media. UNICEF’s partners, the Council of Refugee Women in Bulgaria (CRWB) and the Mission Wings Foundation (MWF) adapted service delivery to allow both face-to-face interaction (while maintaining social distancing for safety) as well as assistance online and by telephone. Partners were able to continue to provide direct social services support while also delivering online consultations to refugees and migrants on cases of violence, as well as referral to specialized services. In Greece, the initiative supported the development of child-friendly information posters and stickers for refugee and migrant children and their families on critical preventive measures and on what to do and where to go if they experience any COVID-19 symptoms. In Italy, the initiative has supported outreach teams and community mobilization, providing refugee and migrant families with the information and resources they need to keep the pandemic at bay. In Rome, for example, health promoters from Intersos continued to work directly with refugee and migrant communities in informal settlements, not only to prevent infection but also to keep their spirits high, as one health promoter explained: "We have organized housing modules that are not only designed to keep the community safe, but also to stop loneliness overwhelming the people forced into isolation. The entire community has assisted people affected by the virus by cooking, washing clothes and offering all possible support, particularly to the children."  UNICEF and its partners in Italy, as in other countries, have aimed to maintain continuity and unimpeded access to key services. Child protection, for example, has been mainstreamed into all project activities, and additional measures have been introduced, with a ramping up of activities to raise awareness and share information. UNICEF partners adapted quickly to the pandemic, with Médecins du Monde (MdM) activating a hotline number to provide remote counselling and psychological first aid (PFA). Centro Penc shifted to remote case management and individual psychological support, strengthening the capacity of cultural mediators to support GBV survivors, with UNICEF’s support. Young people were consulted and engaged through UNICEF’s online platform U-Report on the Move, with young U-reporters sharing information on the increased risks of GBV, as well as on available services. In Serbia, the initiative has supported UNICEF’s efforts to improve the immunization process for refugee children and migrants by strengthening the assessment and monitoring process. As a result of such efforts, refugees and migrants have been included in the national COVID-19 Immunization Plan.  
Press release
04 May 2020
With financial support from the European Union UNICEF launches the ‘RM Child-Health’ project to strengthen vulnerable refugee and migrant children’s health
https://www.unicef.org/eca/press-releases/financial-support-european-union-unicef-launches-rm-child-health-project-strengthen
Logo Logo   BRUSSELS, GENEVA, 5 May 2020 – Under the Health Programme of the European Union, the Directorate General for Health and Food Safety has committed a project grant to  UNICEF to support work ensuring refugee and migrant children and their families have access to quality health care and accurate health information in Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Spain, Bosnia Herzegovina and Serbia. Refugee and migrant children and their families often have more health-related risks and face a number of barriers accessing quality health care. Many children and families also live with severe emotional distress due to the trauma of fleeing home, undertaking dangerous journeys and experiencing abuse and exploitation, including sexual and gender-based violence. The global COVID19 pandemic further exacerbates these health challenges.  “With the ongoing pandemic, protecting every child and adult’s right to health care and accurate heath information is paramount. This collaboration with the EU Health Programme will help ensure the most vulnerable refugee and migrant children will have better access to primary healthcare services, psychosocial support as well as violence prevention and response services,” said UNICEF Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia and Special Coordinator for the Refuge and Migrant Response in Europe, Ms. Afshan Khan. The project ‘RM Child-Health’ will help improve the health of refugee and migrant children by improving their access to life-saving immunizations, mental health and psychosocial support, gender-based violence prevention and response activities as well as maternal and newborn health care and nutrition support. Information materials on health-related risks and services available for refugee and migrant populations will be created and shared. Medical interpreters and cultural mediators will be deployed to support communication between children and families and health care providers. The project ‘RM Child-Health’ will also support training programmes so frontline health care workers can better respond to the specific needs of refugee and migrant children and their families. In parallel, national health authorities will benefit from technical support to develop, update and improve the implementation of health policies and address bottlenecks in national health systems that currently prevent refugee and migrant children from accessing services. Refugee mother feeding her baby at ADRA community centre in Belgrade. UNICEF/UNI220342/Pancic
Programme
18 October 2017
Refugee and migrant children in Europe
https://www.unicef.org/eca/refugee-and-migrant-children
People have always migrated to flee from trouble or to find better opportunities. Today, more people are on the move than ever, trying to escape from climate change, poverty and conflict, and aided as never before by digital technologies. Children make up one-third of the world’s population, but almost half of the world’s refugees: nearly 50 million children have migrated or been displaced across borders.   We work to prevent the causes that uproot children from their homes While working to safeguard refugee and migrant children in Europe, UNICEF is also working on the ground in their countries of origin to ease the impact of the poverty, lack of education, conflict and insecurity that fuel global refugee and migrant movements. In every country, from Morocco to Afghanistan, and from Nigeria to Iraq, we strive to ensure all children are safe, healthy, educated and protected.  This work accelerates and expands when countries descend into crisis. In Syria, for example, UNICEF has been working to ease the impact of the country’s conflict on children since it began in 2011. We are committed to delivering essential services for Syrian families and to prevent Syria's children from becoming a ‘ lost generation ’. We support life-saving areas of health , nutrition , immunization , water and sanitation, as well as education and child protection . We also work in neighbouring countries to support Syrian refugee families and the host communities in which they have settled.   

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