UNICEF East Asia and Pacific

By Nabila Zaka, Health Specialist, UNICEF East Asia & Pacific
Survival and well-being of children is our main aim while working in Health sector in UNICEF. When emergencies occur, children are more vulnerable, and immunization campaigns become critically important. One of the first highly contagious diseases to appear in humanitarian situation is measles, outbreak of which have been reported recently in Syria, Pakistan, Nicaragua and Democratic Republic of Congo.

This is also now one of the major concerns of UNICEF colleagues in the Philippines for the children affected by the typhoon. Dr. Willibald Zeck, Chief Health and Nurition terms measles vaccination as one of the key and urgent priority for UNICEF.

Vaccines have live attenuated diseases causing viruses which when given are too weak to cause a disease but trigger immune response and formation of antibodies that builds resistance. Cold chain equipment and logistics are required to maintain vaccines at stable temperatures at every step of storage and transportation till the child is reached. Each vaccine has a sensitive marker which changes colour if exposed to higher temperature showing it has been damaged and will not be effective. The disaster affected areas are suffering severe disruption of this cold chain. As the power supply was cut, a lot of vaccine supply has expired. Many Rural Health Units do not have generators to keep the vaccine cold. The vaccine warehousing capacity has been compromised as well.

Dr.Raoul, one of the UNICEF staff member in the field sent this text message “No electricy in northern Panay island for the next 2 months. Cold chain will be a challenge. In capiz, 14 of the 16 rhus have operational generator sets.In Aklan and Northern Iloilo, very few of the RHUs have their own gen sets”.

Establishing cold chain is the priority for Department of Health and UNICEF. It will help achieve readiness to begin the measles immunization. Every child from the age of 5 months to 14 years will be targeted. Cold chain capacity will also ensure resumption of routine immunization activities.

A migrant worker activist shares a joke with the HIV virus on the parade
© UNICEF EAPRO/2013/Andy Brown

I’ve been to many international conferences in my time and the word ‘fun’ doesn’t immediately spring to mind. But the 11th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP), held in Bangkok this week, really was fun. This was largely because of the enthusiastic participation of young people and HIV activists from around the region.

As well as the speeches and debates you would expect at an event like this, there was a marathon, cultural performances, youth protesters and a noisy and colourful parade. The opening ceremony featured a performance by drummers from Thailand, China and Bangladesh, playing in their own national style, while children from Indonesia danced on stilts. A group of ‘Instagram reporters’ commissioned by UNAIDS went around capturing the sights for social media.

At the end of the first day, the young people and HIV activists gathered for a parade from the conference centre to Soi Cowboy in Bangkok’s notorious sex district, where they held a welcome reception. The parade took place to the soundtrack of loud pop music. Young people danced in the streets and waved banners calling for an end to discrimination against at-risk groups such as migrants and sex workers. It was led by a tall transvestite twirling a red umbrella. The atmosphere was celebratory.

And there is indeed much to celebrate. An AIDS-free generation once seemed like a far-off dream, but the world finally has what it takes to make this dream a reality. This means a generation in which all children are born free of HIV and remain so for the first two decades of life, from birth through adolescence and into adulthood. It also means that children living with and affected by HIV have access to the treatment, care and support they need to remain alive and well.

Tackling stigma

The Thai Youth Volunteer Group performing 'Growing up with HIV'
© UNICEF EAPRO/2013/Youkonton Ratarasarn

However, progress in the Asia-Pacific region has been uneven, with improvements for children lagging behind those for adults. Although new HIV infections among children in Asia have declined by 28 per cent since 2001, the pace of decline has slowed in recent years. Of the 350,000 people newly infected with HIV in the region in 2012 some 22,900 were children under 14 years of age, according to new figure released by UNICEF.

The data also shows that there are approximately 240,000 adolescents (10-19 years old) currently living with HIV in the region, including an estimated 58,000 newly infected in 2012. These adolescents face daily challenges ranging from access to health services, to stigma and discrimination from their peers.

To illustrate these issues, UNICEF Thailand supported a drama called ‘Growing up with HIV’ that was performed at the conference. It was written by young people living with HIV about the stigma and discrimination they face, and performed by youth volunteers. The drama took the form of a ‘play within a play’, where the actors watched a video of a play by HIV-positive children wearing masks, and discussed their own reaction to it.

After watching the play, one of the characters, ‘Tum’, reveals to the others that he is HIV-positive. “I realize now that all of you understand me,” he said. “I am tired of trying to avoid taking my medicine in front of you. I would like to disclose my HIV status and tell the truth to others to help them understand adolescents living with HIV.”

It was a moving performance and had the undeniable ring of truth to it.

Youth leaders

Tung Bui speaks at a youth advocacy session before the main conference
© UNICEF EAPRO/2013/Youkonton Ratarasarn

Between the formal sessions, I interviewed youth leaders working with at-risk adolescents in Myanmar, Nepal and Vietnam, including young gay men, transgender and former sex workers. One of these was 25-year-old Tung Bui from Vietnam, who has worked on HIV and AIDS prevention among men who have sex with men for four years.

“I came out to my mum when I reached my early twenties” Bui told me. “She kept asking when I would get married. One day I couldn’t take it anymore and I said ‘marriage is not going to happen to me because I’m not into girls. I’m attracted to guys’. I come from a small village and people don’t understand being gay. They call it ‘modern things’. My mum is still processing it. I managed to guide her through it: I explained what gay is, what transgender is. Now she has stopped talking about marriage.”

When Bui was first exploring his sexuality at school, he did not have access to information about HIV and AIDS. But when he went to college in Hanoi, he met a self-help group formed by other young gay men. “That was when I was born again and decided to be an activist for gay rights,” he said. “I got all the information I needed about HIV and AIDS. I was lucky to get it early enough. Then I started to do outreach to the park, bars and saunas to share this information with other young gay men.”

I also talked to ‘Swastika’ (not her real name), a young transsexual from Nepal. She spoke about the discrimination she faced when trying to access health care. “There are no HIV services for young transgenders in Nepal,” she said. “They don’t know where to go. Once, when I was very sick, I went to the hospital. They kept asking me for my menstruation date. I said ‘I don’t have one, I am transgender,’ but they just didn’t get it. So I left the hospital and got my medication elsewhere.”

Lost in Transitions

One of the photos taken by UNAIDS Instagram reporters at the conference
© UNAIDS/2013

On the last day of the conference, UNICEF launched a joint report titled ‘Lost in Transitions: Current issues faced by adolescents living with HIV in Asia Pacific’. Written by the Asia Pacific Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (APN+) with support from UNICEF, this is the first report that specifically focusses on adolescence and HIV in the Asia-Pacific region.

“Adolescence is a difficult time for all young people, when they have to negotiate the change from childhood to adulthood,” Director of APN+ Shiba Phurailatpam said. “This can affect their adherence to medication and access to treatment. The groups particularly at risk in this region include young gay and bisexual men, young intravenous drug users, and young sex workers.”

Like many people at the conference, Shiba also spoke about his own experience. “I used to use drugs,” he said. “At the age of 22, I was diagnosed with HIV. I have asked young people living with HIV, who looks after them? They said ‘no-one: my mum died, my dad died’. If I didn’t have people to support me when I got my HIV result, I don't know what I would have done. We have to go out and bang on governments’ doors and make them address these issues.”

For me, the conference was an eye-opener. I was shocked by the stigma and discrimination that young people with HIV still face after decades of education and advocacy, but also inspired by their fighting spirit and determination to celebrate their lives and diversity. I left ICAAP feeling like an associate member of a very special community.

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The author
Andy Brown is Communication Consultant for UNICEF East Asia and Pacific

Children bathe and wash their clothes as the first water treatment plant in Tacloban came back to full operating capacity. © UNICEF/PFPG2013P-0297

By Maya Igarashi Wood, Emergency Officer for UNICEF East Asia and Pacific

What has happened since last Friday, when I first wrote about our efforts to help the children affected by Typhoon Haiyan? A lot… most of it good, as you must have heard and seen through different media.

After my post last Friday on the first week at UNICEF East Asia and the Pacific regional office on our response to Typhoon Haiyan, I was overwhelmed by the reaction of many UNICEF supporters. I would like to thank all of those who have read it, shared it and supported the work of UNICEF to relieve the suffering of the typhoon affected people in the Philippines.

So let me recapitulate this 2nd of UNICEF's work.

Coordination meetings amongst UNICEF Country office (Philippines), regional office (Bangkok) and Headquarter (New York) are still taking place daily. We continue to support UNICEF Philippines to identify additional staff needs and accelerate the immediate response activities, but we have also started to discuss the needs and plan for the longer term response and recovery based on the “build back better” concept. The children and families whose lives have been upended and who have lost everything will need our help for a long time, even after their urgent needs are met.

On the ground, more and more relief is reaching the affected people.

Access to Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) remains a major challenge in many affected areas. However, UNICEF with its partners and the government authorities have managed to re-establish the water system in Tacloban city, and safe drinking water is now available to over 270,000 people. We are also working hard to improve access to toilets and other sanitation facilities.

Water from functioning water points help provide a source of fun, cleanliness, washing and good hygiene for Typhoon affected people. © UNICEF/Philippines/2013/Kent Page

Congested living conditions in evacuation centres – especially when combined with general shortages of food, water and sanitation - are a recipe for disease outbreaks. Measles and diarrhoeal diseases are one of the biggest threats to young children. The UNICEF Health team is providing support to the Philippines Department of Health and a Measles immunisation in campaign has already started in the evacuation centres. A mass vaccination campaign in wider areas is ready to be launched. The Regional Health expert, Nabila Zaka says “the key to this -- not a small task -- is what’s called an operational cold chain and good cold chain logistics. This will maintain the vaccines at stable temperatures at every step of storage and transportation, so they will be effective”.

In devastating disasters such as this one, UNICEF also plays a key role in providing protection for affected children. The first UNICEF-supported Child Friendly Spaces– a place where children can talk, learn and play without fear - opened on 20th the Department of Education and other partners to prepare all the schools to be reopened in late November or early December.

The first child friendly space opens in Rizal Central School, Tacloban City. Rizal now serves as an evacuation centre for families who lost their homes in the aftermath of typhoon Yolanda. ©UNICEF Philippines/2013/KPage

On top of that, UNICEF is now striving to reach children beyond the cities. One of my colleagues from the regional emergency team is currently helping with an inter-agency assessment of needs, as part of a team visiting remote areas where so far little relief has arrived – mostly due to logistic and geographic challenges. His team aims to reach 100 municipalities and investigate needs in at least three barangays (village) per municipality. It is a massive exercise. The good news is that in some of the areas he has visited the suffering has not been as bad as in Tacloban. He said, “In these areas, schools and hospitals have been reopened although people’s houses and livelihoods have been damaged. People are already working themselves to get back to their normal life”. This shows how resilient they are.

These response activities, including procurement of vaccines and other relief items and the establishment of ways to deliver them safely -- have been possible thanks to the wonderful support provided by individuals and private enterprises around the world. Yasumasa Kimura, chief of regional Private Fundraising and Partnership team said, “Their support to UNICEF for this emergency has been absolutely incredible. The generosity and speed with which people have responded to calls for help from our network of UNICEF National Committees and Country Offices has been really impressive”.

At last week, I wrote that the needs were overwhelming. Today, I feel confident that all the support and efforts made by UNICEF and partners are contributing to improving the situation. The resilience of affected people in the areas the Typhoon struck is inspiring and means we can do more to help. And we must do more. There are so many children who will continue to need our support for some time to come.

Volunteer is wrapping dead bodies © UNICEF/Kent Page

By Kent Page, Senior Advisor Strategic Communications, UNICEF Philippines

It's Sunday in Tacloban. Two days ago, while working with journalists on the ground, we visited one of the hardest hit barangays (neighborhoods) of the city. It's a coastal barangay where thousands of people lived in somewhat of a shanty-town, about 200 meters from the ocean's edge.

Their shanty town does not exist anymore. It bore the full force and fury of super typhoon Haiyan. There's literally nothing left as homes were wiped out and literally washed away by the typhoon, storm surge and gale force winds.

All that remains are the remnants of everyday items we all have in our homes - not in huge piles of debris as seen throughout the city, but random items strewn about haphazardly. A doll here, a tshirt there, a TV remote on the side, a small family photo album over there.

As we were wrapping up our work, I decided to take a walk-around and about 75 meters away came upon two bodies. One appeared to be a young man, and the other was a little girl in a white dress, about six years of age.

At this point it was two weeks since super typhoon Haiyan struck the Philippines. Fourteen days that both bodies had been laying on their backs, staring up into the blazing sun and pouring rain that alternate on a daily basis in Tacloban. The decomposition and smell was overbearing, but I couldn't take my eyes off the little girl in the white dress. It seemed so wrong for her to be left to the elements like that, stared at by anyone passing by. It also seemed wrong that other children could easily stumble across her, including possibly a brother or sister.

UNICEF is not in the business of body retrieval - we are about supporting the most vulnerable children in the world through our actions in health, nutrition, education, child protection, water and sanitation. We are working round the clock for all the children affected by the typhoon and are making progress, although there is still so much to do. But I thought that somehow, the little girl in the white dress was perhaps the most vulnerable child of all.

We had to leave, so I said a small prayer for both of them and then we moved on to do the rest of the day's work. That night I asked how to get in touch with a body retrieval team with whom I would follow up the next day and have the little girl and the young man properly taken care of.

By the following afternoon we had wrapped up several more media interviews to show the world the challenges being faced by so many Filipino children. We then stopped at small store - one of the first to have opened in Tacloban - to buy some water. Inside, I met a fellow Canadian who had been biking around the Philippines and arrived in Tacloban just before Haiyan struck. He had postponed the rest of his trip and was now volunteering with the local fire department. "Doing what?", I asked. "Supporting their body retrieval operations."

I quickly explained the situation and he took me over to the fire hall. Unfortunately, all their teams were already out working and the fire chief told me no one was available until Sunday. "Too late," I said. "Is there anyone else?""Maybe the Mexican team can help", said the fire chief. "They're in the next building."

I went over and met the three body retrieval volunteers from Mexico. "We can go right now if you like", they said. "We'll bring a few extra body bags just in case, but our vehicle is out right now - could we get a lift?"

Thirty minutes later, we had arrived back in the barangay and they started their detailed work - photographing them for later identification, interviewing the small group who had gathered around to collect information as to who they might be, checking wrists and necks for identification bracelets and necklaces, and taking careful notes of all the information and the exact location of the bodies.

And then they moved on to picking up and placing each body in the thick, dark blue Philippine Red Cross body bags. It's important to describe how compassionately they did so, particularly for the little girl in the white dress. Kneeling down beside her, she was gently picked up, cradled in their arms and then even more gently laid into the protective, clean warmth of the bag, as if being tucked into bed. Her hands were placed across her chest and I'm sure a silent prayer was said by all who were watching.

And then ever so slowly, the bag was zipped up. No more oppressive sun, no more pouring rain, no more buzzing flies, no more curious onlookers - just a safe, protective, quiet peace for the little girl in the white dress.

We thought it was over, but sadly the work had only just begun. The local people pointed out seven other bodies lying twisted and turned amongst debris and uprooted palm trees in the swampy waters a bit further back. Five of them children, about 9, 7, 5, 4 and 2 years of age. All of them girls.

The Mexican team treated each body carefully, with all the compassion and dignity they each deserved. Within 2 hours, nine people, six of them children, had finally and properly been cared for by the gentle and professional Mexican team.

There wasn't a body bag for the last child found, but the Mexican team wouldn't leave her exposed. They searched until they found some strewn about bedsheets which they washed in a pool of water. Then they wrapped her in the clean makeshift shroud. They then searched around for a few minutes and found a big colorful green and yellow piece of plastic sheeting in which they carefully wrapped the shroud. Somehow this makeshift body bag with its bright, beautiful colors was perfectly fitting for the lively spirit of a child.

Radio calls were made for a vehicle to come and retrieve the bodies, but as happens every day throughout Tacloban, the body bags would have to wait for a pick up the following day as demand is so high.

The Mexican team decided it would be easier to pick them all up the next morning, Sunday, if they were all brought down together to the beachfront. So they carried each body bag separately down to the edge of the beach, with the children being carried cradled in their arms. They slowly and carefully laid them down to rest on a clean concrete slab, once the foundation of a home, with their feet pointing towards the ocean.

Unlike two weeks ago, the ocean was calm and gentle now, with the waves peacefully breaking on the beach. It seemed as if the ocean was filled with remorse and regret about what it had done and was now trying to apologize. Clouds had set in overhead, but in the distance the rays of the setting sun broke through the clouds as the last child's body was laid there. For a few moments the chaos and upheaval of Tacloban was overpowered by the peace, quiet and beauty of the scene.

Today is Sunday inTacloban and churches throughout the city were overflowing with worshippers giving thanks for those who survived the typhoon and praying for those who had lost their lives. On this perfect Sunday morning with bright sunshine and blue skies, we heard that the three adults and six children had been safely retrieved and taken by vehicle towards their final resting place.

A few minutes later we were just outside a crowded church where UNICEF has been supporting families living in the church since the typhoon destroyed their homes. I was getting ready to do an interview about the emergency vaccination campaign that would cover the children sheltering at the church, when a young man inside the church walked past an open door near me.

He was holding the hand of a little girl, perhaps his daughter, little sister or niece. They didn't say a word as they walked toward the front of the church, but they both looked over and smiled as they passed by. The little girl was happy, healthy and protected. The little girl was wearing a white dress.

A month after Typhoon Haiyan hit Philippines, UNICEF continues to respond to the needs of affected children and their families in different areas including water and sanitation, education, child protection, and immunization.

To view the full photo captions, expand the gallery and click 'show info' in the top right corner.

Justin Bieber sings a song at a surprise concert in Leyte.
©Robyn Penn of Maui Maki Photography

Last week, internationally renowned singer Justin Bieber and UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake both visited the Philippines to see UNICEF's work for children affected by Typhoon Haiyan in November.

On 10 December 2013 in the Philippines, renowned singer Justin Bieber interacts with an audience member while giving a surprise concert, at City Central Elementary School in Tacloban City, Leyte Province, Eastern Visayas Region.

Tacloban City is among the areas worst affected by Typhoon Haiyan, which struck the Philippines on 8 November. Some 14 million people – including 4 million who are displaced – have been affected by the storm, one of the strongest ever to make landfall.

Through Prizeo – an online platform in which celebrities can draw on their fan base to fundraise for a cause – Mr. Bieber has asked for support of typhoon relief efforts, with part of the the funds raised going to UNICEF.

Justin Bieber plays basketball in front of a UNICEF Child Friendly Space

“Justin brought a lot of joy, hope and cheer to the hundreds of children who were there,” said UNICEF Emergency Coordinator for the Haiyan Response Angela Kearney about the concert.

“The money that he is raising will give some [of] the children who were caught in the path of Haiyan access to education, vaccinations, better nutrition, clean water and sanitation.

“UNICEF has appealed for US$61.5 million for its typhoon response – including programmes in water, sanitation and hygiene, child protection, nutrition, health, education and HIV/AIDS – through May 2014.”

Anthony Lake visits a UNICEF Child-Friendly Space in Tacloban City
© UNICEF

Following Justin Beiber's visit, UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake arrived in the Philippines on 12 December. He visited a UNICEF Child Friendly Space tent in the Tacloban City Astrodome evacuation centre. He also met many children affected by the Typhoon.

After a four day visit to the Philippines, Mr Lake said that he was deeply impressed by the spirit of the people and the communities working with the government, United Nations and other partners to rebuild their lives and futures. The massive typhoon disrupted the lives of nearly six million children and destroyed the homes of 1.4 million children and their families.

“While I had followed the reports of progress closely from UNICEF’s New York Headquarters, no statistics can adequately capture the physical and human challenges that remain,” said Lake. “I came here not only to see the progress first-hand, but also to thank our UNICEF staff who have been here from the start and will continue to support the rebuilding effort for the long term.”

Anthony Lake reads a story to children affected by Typhoon Haiyan
© UNICEF

Lake met and spoke with children, teachers and parents at numerous schools, learning spaces, child-friendly tents and vaccination sites in Leyte and Eastern Samar on Saturday and Sunday.

UNICEF has mobilized experts from all over the world to support the relief effort and coordinate a plan for recovery. This will include working with the government and partners in supporting back-to-learning efforts; strengthening the child protection system, working on reestablishing and rehabilitating water systems and the cold chain for delivery of safe vaccines and providing services to children threatened by malnutrition.

The children’s agency helped restore water to the city of Tacloban eight days after the Typhoon struck, and aims to assist in restoring safe water to more than 60 communities.

“None of this could have been done without the support UNICEF has received for the Philippines from around the world, especially from individuals and private sector partners through our national committees,” said Lake.

A volunteer measures a child’s upper arm circumference – a gauge of nutritional status
© UNICEF/Dianan Valcarcel Silvela

I have just back from Tacloban. I am a UNICEF health specialist and travelled there as part of UNICEF’s global support to help colleagues working to restore health systems that protect children in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan (known locally as Yolande).

Even after my return home to Bangkok, I am still awed by the fury of the Typhoon, its massive destruction. I am also struck by the strength and the spirit of the people whose lives it decimated. Among the heaps of debris, there are signs that announce “we will rise again” and “homeless, roofless but not hopeless”.

The evidence of the power of the Typhoon is everywhere. Acres of coconut trees have been stripped of their crowning foliage. Wooden huts have been razed to the ground and brick and cement buildings are roofless and have broken windows.

The same destruction has been wrought on the areas health facilities – roofs, windows and walls have been damaged, and many require total reconstruction. Wind and flood waters damaged medical supplies, power outages mean vaccines are no longer useable and electrical equipment like refrigerators – key elements of the cold chain that is essential to protect medicines – no longer function.

The Government estimates that more than US$2 million will be needed to rebuild the health sector in Tacloban, and the cost of the loss of medical and pharmaceutical supplies is yet to be determined.

Children receiving oral polio vaccine as part of the post-Typhoon campaign
© UNICEF/Dianan Valcarcel Silvela

UNICEF Philippines is bringing in US$8 million worth of medical kits and diarrhoeal disease sets. Some US$2 million worth of vaccines have been ordered to replenish the government’s stock and US$10 million worth of cold chain equipment – generators, solar and ice-lined refrigerators capable of withstanding long power failures and cold rooms for storing vaccines – are en route.

Along with this essential medical hardware, UNICEF will bring in international expertise to support the Department of Health to build up its capacity to manage long-term investment in cold chain. Without the cold chain, essential medicines and vaccines that protect children from life-threatening illnesses cannot survive the heat – they become ineffective and fail to invoke the required immune response.

Even before this help arrives, UNICEF along with the World Health Organization and other partners has completed an immunization campaign that will protect thousands of children against measles and polio. The immunization campaign was also used to do nutritional screening – additional nutrition volunteers were added to the vaccination teams – as well as to provide Vitamin A supplementation.

Our current health priorities are to ensure that routine childhood immunization – the six EPI vaccines– are resumed, and to support the Government to restore maternal, newborn and child health services, with a particular focus on diarrhoea and dengue prevention and treatment.

In Tacloban suffered massive damage. Electricity lines and coconut trees are still down and the clean-up continues but – about two months after the disaster -- you can see a newly erected hut. © UNICEF/Nabila Zaka

With all the work we have to do, it is sometimes easy to forget that the caregivers are human too. I worked with government colleagues who have lost family members and others whose houses are in need of urgent repair. Many midwives have not only been rendered homeless but also lost their private birthing homes and clinics.

I met a Filipino nurse who was part of the group trying to help midwives start their work again. “We gathered them and let them cry over what had happened to them and their loved ones. It’s OK to cry and get over it before you gather courage to rise again,” she said.

Working as a member of UNICEF’s Tacloban team was a privilege. I saw managers who sat with their teams in the heat and humidity using smiles and humour to lighten the atmosphere. I saw colleagues whose energy levels are high even after months spent working to help in consecutive emergency surge missions. I also met staff members who had to be pushed to take a break– who couldn’t see they were exhausted because they were so preoccupied with getting Tacloban’s children what they need.

We were all ‘one’ for the cause of children and this made me – once again – so proud to be part of UNICEF!

The author: Nabila Zaka is Maternal and Child Health Specialist for UNICEF East Asia and Pacific

Students listen to their teacher in a temporary classroom at San Roque school
© UNICEF Philippines/2013/Reyna

The official reopening of schools is a positive step towards recovery in parts of the Philippines still struggling to cope with the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan.

As the morning sun rises over the ocean, the neighbourhood of San Roque is buzzing with activity. Children are bathing, having breakfast and preparing to go back to school – a big day just two months after Typhoon Haiyan tore across the country.

“Our school had 17 classes,” says Myra Salve, a teacher in San Roque. “Only one was left by the typhoon.”

Nine students from the school passed away, and Michel Lerios, 13, is still mourning the loss of one of the teachers, Ms. Lorna Roa Alamop.

“My teacher died in the typhoon. She was a second mother to me,” he says.

“When I saw the school destroyed two days after the typhoon, I didn’t lose hope,” says Ms. Salve. “I knew someone was going to help us. We will rise again.”

Michel Lerios, 13, arrives at San Roque school which was mostly destroyed.
© UNICEF Philippines/2013/Reyna

Starting to recover

For most of the children of San Roque, the traumatic experience of the typhoon is coupled with the aftermath: living in makeshift houses, temporary tents or evacuation centres. Returning to school means getting back to a routine and starting a process of recovery. For parents, it means having time to rebuild their houses and their livelihoods.

The Back to Learning campaign for 500,000 children in typhoon-affected areas has been organized under the name balik eskwela (‘back to school’ in the Waray language) and is led by the Department of Education and the Department of Social Welfare and Development, with the support of UNICEF and International and national NGOs and other local partners.

A ‘soft opening’ of schools took place on 2 December for schools that were ready to start informal classes. Since December, UNICEF has begun providing learning and recreational materials for 500,000 children, putting in place 3,000 temporary learning spaces, and water and sanitation facilities for 1,000 schools.

“I am happy to go back to school. Education is important because it teaches us to read, write and respect others,” says Rhonalyn Grabillo, 13.

Michel also appreciates the value of education for his future. “Going to school is important because you make friends and it helps you to find a job,” he says.

San Roque elementary school is now composed of two tents and six makeshift classrooms. Before the typhoon, the school had 750 students and 16 teachers. At the official back-to-learning, just over half the pupils showed up. Many of them have gone to other places like Manila and Cebu.

Protective environment

The benefits of education in crisis-stricken and post-crisis societies are far-reaching. During emergencies, children in school can be cared for in a protective environment. By reestablishing a daily routine and helping to restore a sense of normalcy, schools like San Roque Elementary become therapeutic spaces in the midst of destruction. They help families get back on their feet by allowing parents space to organize their lives.

For Marites Larios, Michel’s mother, this is an important fact. “No matter how strong was the tragedy we have gone through, our children need to be back in school,” she says. “Education is the only inheritance we can give them. I want Michel and my other children to study. I don’t want them to go through the hard times I went through.”

Education is a powerful tool for positive change. For Rhonalyn, Michel and the other students, it´s also the beginning of a future of hope and opportunity.

By Diana Valcarcel

Children wash their hands with soap outside a latrine block at Katauk Sat Basic Education Primary School, Myanmar © UNICEF/NYHQ2012-2056/Adam Dean

New data released by UNICEF shows some interesting trends in water, hygiene and sanitation (WASH) supply throughout East Asia and the Pacific (EAP). This regioncovers 27 countries - 12 in East Asia and 15 in the Pacific. It includes ‘giants’ such as China (with a population of over 1.3 billion) at one end of the spectrum and Tuvalu in the Pacific with less than 10,000 people at the other end. Because of this diversity, I wondered how much difference would be seen in some of the regional statistics with and without China.

UNICEF issues regular snapshots of WASH data based on the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Program updates, and making use of other available data sets. At the end of 2013, these included A Snapshot of Sanitation and Hygiene in East Asia and the Pacific and A Snapshot of Water Supply in East Asia and the Pacific. A separate analytical overview was also issued on the Pacific – A Snapshot of Water and Sanitation in the Pacific.

These regional analyses and updates reveal some interesting findings. The East Asia and Pacific region shows extraordinary improvements in water supply and sanitation over past decades. Comparing data from 2011 with data from1990, some 693 million more people now have access to improved drinking water, and 836 million more people use improved sanitation.

The Impact of China
China accounts for more than two-thirds (68%) of the population of the East Asia and Pacific region, having a significant impact on WASH averages in the region as a whole. Certain key WASH indicators are quite different in the region with China statistics excluded. Most of the people who are newly able to access water and sanitation since 1990 are in China. Outside of China, slow progress on sanitation and high open defecation rates can be seen, as well as low access to piped water at household levels.

The Pacific
The Pacific sub-region, consisting of 14 Pacific island countries and Papua New Guinea, has a much different water and sanitation profile than the East Asia and Pacific region as a whole. Both sanitation and water coverage is far below the East Asia average. At around 30 per cent in 2011, sanitation coverage is the same as Sub-Saharan Africa, and lower than any other region in the world. Access to improved drinking water is only 53 per cent, lower than any region in the world and far behind the world average of 89 per cent.

Find out more
The full documents are available to download as follows. These are intended to help guide policy dialogue and advocacy for improved and equitable quality of WASH services.
•A Snapshot of Sanitation and Hygiene in East Asia and the Pacific (pdf)
•A Snapshot of Water Supply in East Asia and the Pacific (pdf)
•A Snapshot of Water and Sanitation in the Pacific (pdf)

The author: Chander Badloe, Regional Adviser – WASH, UNICEF East Asia and Pacific Regional Office, Bangkok

The green armband on this Filipino baby girl shows that she is not malnourished
© UNICEF/NYHQ2013-1229/Heather Papowitz

I read a thought-provoking meme on Facebook this morning that said: “We should be paying farmers to keep us healthy instead of paying doctors to heal our illnesses.”

Most of us are happy to have a doctor around when we fall ill, but nevertheless there is a lot of truth in the above statement! How much suffering and illness could we prevent if we looked beyond the conventional boxes of ‘health care’, and even ‘food’ to help prevent malnutrition?

In my field of work, the global Scaling Up Nutrition movement is trying to do just this – raise awareness that a wide range of development sectors are needed to combat malnutrition, and that having better nourished children has specific benefits for each sector. These include children who are better prepared to learn (education), workers that are more productive (labor and economy), and less time-off for parents who need to care for sick children (labor and health).

Nutrition and education

One initiative that takes a cross-sectoral approach is the Bangladesh Female Secondary School Assistance Programme.

Did you know that educating future mothers is the single most important underlying determinant of children’s nutritional well-being? Keeping girls in school for longer means that they will grow up to be more knowledgeable and empowered mothers, and will earn higher wages. They’ll also be older when they marry, which reduces the risks of teenage pregnancies, including complications during delivery and low-birth-weight babies.

The Bangladesh initiative aims to improve secondary education for girls through tuition stipends, teacher training, performance incentives for schools and students, and water and sanitation facilities. Partly as a result of this initiative, girls’ enrollment in secondary schools in Bangladesh jumped from 1.1 million in 1991 to 3.9 million in 2005.

This included an increase in the number of girls from poor and remote areas. This is a great achievement, not only for the girls themselves, but also for the well-being of their families and the next generation. One study showed that the chance of having a stunted (chronically malnourished) child in Indonesia and Bangladesh decreased 4 to 5 percent for each additional year of mothers’ formal education.

Nutrition and economics

Economists estimate that undernutrition can cost up to 8 percent of a nation’s GDP. Early and exclusive breastfeeding alone could save 1.4 million children’s lives under the age of 5 every year globally.

UNICEF is working throughout Asia to build multi-sector partnerships that can sustain improvements in children’s nutrition. We work with governments on policies and plans that can tackle all the causes of malnutrition as part of a unified framework with accountable results for agriculture, education, health, social protection, water and sanitation, and other related sectors.

We help to build governments’ capacity to deliver nutrition services, and strengthen the reporting systems that inform us of how those efforts are progressing. And of course we support some of the direct interventions that are known to work, such as breastfeeding promotion, vitamins and minerals for young children, better access to nutritious foods, nutrition education as part of cash-transfer schemes, and many others.

European partnership

Through a partnership with the European Union (the Maternal and Young Child Nutrition Security Initiative in Asia, we’ve been able to focus these kinds of efforts in five countries: Bangladesh, Indonesia, Laos, Nepal and the Philippines.

It’s exciting to see changes taking place: new laws that entitle mothers to longer maternity leave so that they can breastfeed their children for six months; local government councils that allocate their own funds to purchase nutrition supplies; and women’s groups that work together on community gardens, create songs to promote breastfeeding, and write healthier recipes for feeding young children.

UNICEF and the EU have developed a series of advocacy briefs that review the evidence on nutrition from four different sector perspectives: agriculture; education; health, water and sanitation; and social protection. We’ll be sharing these widely to support the message that keeping children strong, healthy, and well-nourished isn’t just the work of doctors and farmers – it makes good sense for everyone!

Download the advocacy briefs

The author
Dorothy Foote is Nutrition Specialist for UNICEF East Asia and Pacific

Since Typhoon Haiyan, health centres in the Philippines have seen patient numbers increase dramatically, placing enormous strain on health staff – and on supplies.

By Gregor Henneka

Getting emergency health supplies to remote clinics is one way UNICEF has supported communities recovering from the devastation of Typhoon Haiyan.

Demar John, 7 months old, is at a Rural Health Unit (RHU) in the central Philippines town of Estancia with his mother Claris, 23. “He has frequent cough. For five days, he is already coughing, so we came for a consultation,” says Claris.

“Our house in Barangay Daculan was destroyed because of Yolanda,” she says, referring to the local name for Typhoon Haiyan, which tore through the region in November. “We are now staying in a tent.”

“Before the typhoon, our health unit had about 40 to 50 patients a day. But since, every day we have more than 100,” says Judith Dalton (left), a nurse in the central Philippines town of Estancia. © UNICEF Video

The typhoon brought a steep rise in the number of patients coming to clinics like this one, explains Judith Dalton, a nurse at the RHU. “After the typhoon, we have met many cases. Lacerated wounds, bruises, and all kinds of wounds. Among the most common cases also are respiratory infections,” she says. “Before the typhoon, our health unit had about 40 to 50 patients a day. But since, every day we have more than 100.”

Emergency support

Such an increase puts enormous strain on the health staff – and on supplies. UNICEF has helped address potential shortages through the distribution of emergency health kits, which contain equipment and supplies for a health post to care for 10,000 people for three months, on average.

Almost one third of the people affected by Typhoon Haiyan live on Panay Island. In Estancia, in the far north-east corner of Panay Island, 118 families are still living in tents in an evacuation centre, and thousands are staying in damaged houses. UNICEF opened a field office in Roxas City in the northern part of the island to assist affected people in coping with the impact of the typhoon.

The kits contain essential supplies such as medical scissors, stethoscopes, bandages and thermometers, as well as a large selection of drugs typically in high demand in emergency situations. © UNICEF Video

“Boxes of medicines were brought from UNICEF, and all the medicines were given free to all the patients to cater for their medications,” Ms. Dalton says. “Most commonly we are using the antibiotics and the pain relievers, and sometimes the suturing. That’s what we mostly needed for the wounds and for respiratory infection medicines.”

The emergency health kits contain essential medical devices such as bandages, stethoscopes, thermometers and medical scissors, as well as a selection of drugs typically in high demand in emergency situations. Each kit costs approximately US$8,000.

Long journey

“The health kits have had quite a journey,” says Dr. Kambiz Hamedanizade, a Health Specialist with UNICEF Philippines. “They came from our supply division in Copenhagen. With the help of KLM [national airline of the Netherlands], they have been flown to Cebu, the hub for our supplies distribution. From Cebu, they came by truck and ferry to reach us.”

Dr. Hamedanizadeh explains that distribution of the kits is determined by the size of the affected population and the number of Rural Health Units in the area.

“We made sure that each RHU in the four affected provinces receives at least one comprehensive kit,” he says. “In total, we distributed 41 health kits, so we can say that UNICEF is covering 410,000 people for three months.”

The emergency health kits were among the 100 tons of supplies flown to Cebu on 22 November, only two weeks after the typhoon, on a flight provided free of charge by KLM – together with school-in-a-box kits, tents for temporary learning spaces and other urgent supplies.

Dr. Hamedanizade is a UNICEF Health Specialist on secondment from NorCap, the Norwegian Capacity operated by the Norwegian Refugee Council and funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Christina sings at first day at care centre in Typhoon Haiyan-affected areas
© UNICEF Philippines/2014/D Valcarcel

Christina Baguisa is only 4 years old, but she already sings like a professional. Her father Teodoro says she learned to sing from watching TV. Christina sang today in front of 184 children, day care workers and parents at the launch of back to learning in day care centres in areas affected by Typhoon Haiyan (known locally as Yolanda).

Under the leadership of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the Office of the Municipal Mayor, UNICEF and partners are supporting an estimated 80,000 children aged 3 to 4 years old to return to day care centres.

Children from five barangays gathered at the Canramos gymnasium to attend the launch. Together with UNICEF's implementing partner INTERSOS, day care workers organized games and fun activities for the children, who were happy to go back to their normal life after two long months.

"Let's forget about the past. Let's forget about Yolanda. Now it's time to meet friends, learning and playing together," said UNICEF Education Officer Evangelina Cledera.

UNICEF's Evangelina welcomes children back as day care centres reopen
© UNICEF Philippines/2014/D Valcarcel

Day care centres give young children an opportunity to learn and play as part of their development, and prepare them to enter elementary school at the age of 5. Getting back to a routine of going to school helps children overcome the difficulties they have gone through during and after the typhoon.

Christina's father Teodoro is experiencing many challenges in raising his four children. His wife passed away two years ago, when Christina was just 2 years old. "I am a pedicab driver. My pedicab was washed out in the typhoon. I have been doing cash-for-work and receiving relief support," he said. Teodoro's main objective is that his four children finish their studies so they can have good jobs and earn enough money to live.

Going back to learning is not only good for children but also for parents. Teodoro will now have time to look for a job in the mornings while Christina is at the Santo Niño day care centre. In the afternoon he takes care of his four children. "I want my children to go to school so they can finish their studies and have good jobs in the future," he says.

Teodoro Baguisa and his daughter, Christina
© UNICEF Philippines/2014/D Valcarcel

For teacher Marcelina Dado, the reopening of schools and day care centres is a bittersweet experience. "Two of my students died in the typhoon," she said, crying. "We don't have a school now. It's damaged. UNICEF has supported us with a tent and learning materials. We are very grateful."

Marcelina is Christina's teacher. "She is very smart. She easily learns lessons. She is a very happy girl and [is] interested in classes," she said. "During the morning, his father goes to work. But every afternoon, she is at Christina's side."

The song Christina sang in today's ceremony was about reaching dreams. Maybe many of the children, by going back to learning in the day care centres, have reached their dream of continuing their studies and preparing for elementary school. For their parents, even if they face many challenges like Teodoro, some of their dreams are being fulfilled by seeing their children back on the good path of education.

By Diana Valcarcel

Three months after Typhoon Haiyan devastated the Philippines, for the children hit hardest by the destruction, the long trek back to normalcy has begun.

Edegario in the UNICEF Temporary Learning Space
© UNICEF Philippines/2014/Pirozzi

Edegario, 12, points to where his house used to be. Two broken wooden poles are all that is left. His family is now living with his uncle, in the house next door, which was also heavily damaged. The family repaired it as much as they could with tarpaulin, panel sheets, whatever they could find out of the debris.

Edegario lives in Tacloban neighbourhood heavily affected by Typhoon Haiyan (local name Yolanda). Three months on, the neighbourhood still bears the signs of massive devastation. At least most of the few metres high debris has been cleared.

A sixth grade student in Manlurip Primary School in Tacloban, Edegario’s favourite subjects are English, Math and Social Studies.

“There were a lot of trees around here that got uprooted. As you can see, only a few are standing,” said Edegario, “our school was beautiful with a lot of flowers and greenery. We used to stay late after school to play volleyball and Tumbang Preso.” Tumbang Preso is a traditional Filipino children’s game where you throw your sandals trying to hit a can.

He and his friends now go home before it gets dark; electricity is scarce in the area.

“Our classroom was destroyed with most parts of the school,” added Edegario. Classes are now held in a UNICEF tent and they use learning supplies provided by UNICEF. Since reopening, classes run from Monday to Saturday to help children catch up on the missed lessons.

Shocked as much as they are with the loss of home and livelihood, the family is grateful to have survived and for being together, the parents and three boys.

Venus, grade 8, washes her hands after using the latrines at her school.
© UNICEF Philippines/2014/Pirozzi

After the typhoon hit and the storm surge completely destroyed their house, the family managed to reach the airport where they waited for three days and nights to find a space on a Korean military C130 plane to evacuate from the disaster zone. “We had not had anything to eat for three days”, he recalls and they had to be in the waiting cue even at night, “It was my first time on a plane”, tells Edegario. “It was crowded, I felt dizzy.”

In Manila, they found shelter with Edegario’s grandmother. Community members offered them food and drink for the typhoon survivors, the priest also took care of them. But there was no work for his father and older brother, so they decided return to Tacloban.

“We received 4,500 Pesos from the DSWD (Department of Social Welfare and Development) to return to Tacloban. But fares were expensive. Fortunately the youngest boy Edmond got a free ride,” said the father, Edegario Sr. “Now I want to rebuild the house but I don’t have money to buy some wood.” His Pedicab, a typical Filipino bicycle taxi that brought him modest, hard-earned income, is destroyed. The only remaining source of income for the family is a small rice field that he cultivates.

The family still relies on relief goods. “I haven’t eaten meat or pork since Yolanda”, related Edegario, “only canned goods and some vegetables.” A student-feeding programme started this week, “Today we had porridge and egg.”

Edegario's wooden post is all that remains from their former home.
© UNICEF Philippines/2014/Reyna

Like hundreds and thousands of affected families, three months down from the devastating Typhoon Haiyan on 8 November, has changed their life forever, Edegario’s family continues to struggle to get back on their feet. At least he is going back to school together with his 9-year old younger brother Edmond in third grade. Edegario’s 21-year old brother Joel is a teacher and started to work again just a few days ago. With all the challenges they are facing, there is only one thing Edegario wishes for: “I wish are and will be safe.”

“UNICEF considers education integral to humanitarian response, we help bring children back to learning as quickly as possible” said Ms Angela Kearney, Representative , UNICEF Philippines, “Return to school is a joy for children. We need to make learning a really positive experience for children, for their families and for their communities.”

UNICEF supported some 427,000 children from the worst hit areas who are now back in school, in repaired, makeshift and tent schools and using learning materials from school-in-a-box, early childhood and recreational kits. The back to school campaign will continue to expand focusing on the new school year, which begins in June 2014.

The authors
Gregor Henneka with Zafrin Chowdhury, Communication Specialists, UNICEF Philippines

"Data have made it possible to save and improve the lives of millions of children, especially the most deprived," says Tessa Wardlaw, Chief of UNICEF's Data and Analytics Section

By David Parker, Regional Chief of Programme and Planning, UNICEF EAPRO

Children use clean sanitation facilities at a school in Xihe County, China
Research has shown that sanitation impacts on academic performance
© UNICEF/CHINA/2011/Yan Lu

Data and statistics are key to improving the lives of millions of children around the world. Since the launch of the first ‘State of the World’s Children’ report in 1980, UNICEF has shown that credible data – addressing important issues, well packaged and communicated – can drive significant changes in favour of children.

We have seen this at the global level, and I have seen it first-hand from my work at UNICEF’s Innocenti Research Centre, where the ‘Report Cards’ comparing children’s well-being in industrialized countries galvanized public attention and visibly influenced national debates and policies in many countries. The team, including international experts, put great effort into obtaining high-quality, comparable data, and analyzing and presenting it in a simple and transparent manner. The power of the evidence demonstrated that the results were well worth the effort.

This was also the case during my time in China, where UNICEF has a strong record of facilitating the generation and use of data to make the case for strengthened or new policies, and help guide their implementation. For example, on field visits I met teachers and students who confirmed what research had shown, that the presence of adequate sanitation has a major impact on children’s school performance. Surveys were needed, however, to document the gaps that existed in school sanitation and identify districts where action was most needed. Later visits showed the difference that good sanitation makes to children’s attitudes and to the schools themselves.

While UNICEF’s presence in China is small in relative terms, enormous influence has been gained for children through relevant information and influential advocacy. This principle, at the heart of UNICEF’s cooperation in China, is being applied widely across the East Asia and Pacific region, as countries reach middle-income status.

Household surveys

Much of what is known about the situation of children comes from household surveys, such as the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS), which have been developed and supported by UNICEF. These surveys, carried out by national governments to high technical standards, capture representative information that is reported by families about their situation and how they access services. Data from household surveys enable UNICEF and our partners to understand the circumstances and living conditions of girls and boys of different age, family income, and ethnic groups: how they are born and cared for, how they grow and learn.

Such information, over time, reveals the many gains that have been achieved for children across the world. It also reveals gaps and shortfalls, and the inequalities that may in fact be increasing within countries even as the overall social development situation improves.

Disaggregated data, which is generally only available through in-depth surveys, is crucial to identify disparities and thereby enable interventions to be focused on the children who need them the most. It also helps to monitor and evaluate the progress of existing programmes and political commitments.

In East Asia and the Pacific there is a longstanding recognition of the importance of investing in education. We have worked for many years to use data to build the case for similar investments in other areas, with particular attention to health and child protection. While quick wins from ‘the right data at the right time’ are always valued, a long-term view is also critical. The most enduring investment gains come through using evidence to influence governments’ strategic plans and budgets, and the lending of international financial institutions in favour of children.

The knowledge we gain from data has made it possible to save and improve the lives of millions of children, and to keep our attention on those who are most vulnerable and excluded. Obtaining information on excluded children, such as ethnic minorities living in remote regions, can be highly challenging in logistical and financial terms. Yet this is a key way to ‘make the invisible visible’: where ‘invisible’ children – including those whose existence is not officially registered – remain most in need to be counted and reached.

State of the World’s Children

The latest set of global data that has been assembled, reviewed, vetted and reported by UNICEF has just been released as the ‘State of the World’s Children in Numbers’. This report shines new light on the situation of children in the region.

We see continued substantial progress on under-5 mortality, but disparities persist. In East Asia and the Pacific, under-five mortality has fallen by 65 percent since 1990, the highest regional rate of progress in the world. The country with the highest rate of child mortality in this region is Lao PDR. Despite good progress, in Laos there are 72 deaths per 1,000 live births. By contrast, in Japan there are just 3 deaths per 1,000 live births.

There are wide disparities in the situation of children, across all sectors, depending on whether their families are from the poorest or richest 20 percent of the population. For example, in Viet Nam 21 percent of the poorest children are 5 were underweight, compared to only 3 percent of the richest. 38 percent of the poorest children had comprehensive knowledge of HIV, compared to 68 percent of the richest.

UNICEF and governments are using this data to improve the targeting and quality of services, and to further strengthen the capacity for reaching these children. Despite having the highest under-five mortality rate in East Asia and Pacific, Laos also has one of the greatest rates of progress in this area, with a 72 percent reduction in child mortality between 1990 and 2011.

The Lao Social Indicator Survey 2011-12 provided data which, for the first time, enabled the government analyse the situation of women and children at the provincial level. This data has been used by the Lao Government UNICEF and other partners to update the situation of children and their families and measure progress towards the MDGs, identifying provinces where extra efforts are needed.

The evidence is then being used to shape advocacy and programme responses. For example, UNICEF’s analysis of the nutrition data showed the need for increased attention to breastfeeding and to counter the trend of using breast milk substitutes. It also showed the need for greater attention to the linkages between nutrition and open defecation. We are now supporting accelerated action in these areas.

Because of UNICEF’s focus on data, we have been able to improve the lives of millions of children – in China, Laos and around the world – and will continue to do so in the years to come.

By Maya Igarashi Wood, Emergency Officer for UNICEF East Asia and Pacific

Students at Santo Niño Elementary School in Tanauan, near Tacloban.
Classes are being held in UNICEF tents while buildings are repaired.
© UNICEF Philippines/2014/Giacomo Pirozzi

Saturday 8 February marked exactly three months after Typhoon Haiyan (known locally as Yolanda). On this day, after months of following the relief efforts from a distance at UNICEF’s regional office in Bangkok, I was fortunate to witness the change in Tacloban, one of the hardest hit areas, and talk to people affected by the typhoon.

I was nervous on the plane journey to Tacloban, thinking about what would be standing - or not - in front of me when I land. To my surprise, as we approached the ground, many houses seemed intact. It was only when we left the airport that I noticed more and more shelters, damaged buildings and houses with roofs covered by tarpaulin. However, the roads were busy with traffic, children were walking to school in uniforms, and shops were selling food and other products.

One of the purposes of my visit to Tacloban was to attend a meeting between UNICEF and local governments from affected areas to jointly plan our typhoon response and recovery. One of the participants from the Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council of in Leyte was there before, during and right after Typhoon Haiyan hit.

He monitored the path of the approaching typhoon. At first, he called for the voluntary evacuation of the population. Then, when it became clear that the typhoon was approaching with much stronger power than expected, he ordered the compulsory evacuation of everyone in coastal barangays (villages).

He was doing all he could for the people in his municipality. But at the same time, he was worried about his own wife and children, including a less than 10-month-old daughter who he had left at home thinking it was far enough from the coast. “It was my biggest regret - I should have evacuated my family first much further from the sea,” he recalled.

After the typhoon passed, he managed to reach home by walking through the debris. His house was damaged but his family was safe. His son was crying but he felt relieved seeing the smile of his youngest daughter. “I will not repeat the same mistake for my family and municipality ever again,” he said to me firmly.

On the following day, I went to Dulag, a town about one hour from Tacloban City, where the parents of my colleague, Ms Manocsoc live. As we drove along the coast, I saw damaged factories and buildings, and people living in tents. The most shocking scene was the vast areas of coconut plantations with many palm trees uprooted or broken just a few meters from the ground. Coconut farming is an important source of livelihood for many people in the area.

Her father, Nestor, told us that in his land, only about 30 out of 130 coconut trees survived. He wasn’t certain whether he would plant new trees because “I am already retired and it will take six to eight years for the trees to grow and about 15 years to harvest good coconuts.” Meanwhile, he was chopping up the fallen trees for the wood, and drying coconut husks and shells for additional income.

He was relatively lucky, as he still had other sources of income, but he was concerned about neighbours who rely solely on coconut farming. “They are struggling to earn a living,” he said. During our visit, some of his neighbours were helping to build the floor of his garage in exchange for small cash.

UNICEF has partnered with local governments to support them in rebuilding systems for education, health, nutrition, child protection, and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), so that the communities to which they belong will be more resilient to future emergencies.

I spoke to UNICEF Education Programme Specialist Cheche Vetta Olayvar about the challenges and how UNICEF can help address them. She said that, while local governments are in charge of Early Childhood Care and Development programmes for children aged three to five, they have limited resources to fully restore day care centres. Many damaged schools are not safe to hold classes and some are still used as shelters for displaced people.

To make sure that children can go back to school as soon as possible UNICEF and partners have provided temporary learning spaces and education supplies. Beyond that, teachers are trained on how to provide psychosocial support to children to help them overcome the trauma of the past months.

Schools also serve as places for promoting good health and hygiene behaviour to minimise immediate risks of any disease outbreak. Emergency drills and risk assessment with children’s participation prepare the communities for any future emergencies.

I only had a few days to visit Tacloban and its surroundings. I returned to Manila with mixed feelings. While I was impressed by the rapid recovery to normal daily life, and by the energy and smile of local people, I could see the long and difficult road still ahead. All of us – communities including children, the Government, UNICEF and our partner organisations – need to keep working together to build back a society and systems that are more resilient.

UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and football legend David Beckham spent Valentine's Day visiting children in areas of the Philippines devastated by Typhoon Haiyan.

For two days, Mr. Beckham toured Tacloban and the surrounding areas, which were among the hardest hit when the powerful storm ripped through the central Philippines 98 days ago.

On 14 February, UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador David Beckham visits Santo Niño School in Tanawan neighbourhood, where he took part in classes helping to distribute exercise books to children in a tented classroom and played a game of football amongst the ruins of the original school.

“As a father, it was deeply moving to meet children as young as 2 who were left with nothing but the clothes they were wearing when sea and storm water swept through their villages during the typhoon,” said Mr. Beckham, who helped launch a UNICEF emergency appeal for funding just days after the storm.

While in the Tacloban area the past two days, he visited a number of UNICEF-supported sites, including the Santo Niño Elementary School, which sits on the coast and was leveled by Haiyan. The school’s principal, Marlon Tangpuz, said four of the school’s students died in the storm, and about nine out of ten children lost their homes.

On the school grounds, UNICEF has installed three large tents, which are being used for classrooms and child-friendly play areas.

“Children who were caught up in Haiyan are still traumatized by their experience and need ongoing assistance,” said Mr. Beckham. “UNICEF delivered life-saving supplies when the typhoon hit, and they will now stay as long as they are needed and won’t let children down.”

Mr. Beckham visited dozens of children in their temporary classrooms at Santo Niño. In Edgie Mesias’ Grade 4 class, Mr. Beckham sat in the front of the sand-floored room and encouraged the 9-year-old boy to read aloud to the class – an act Edgie carried out with enthusiasm.

Mr. Beckham plays with children affected by Typhoon Haiyan at a UNICEF-supported tented school. “Perfect,” Mr. Beckham said.

In a new UNICEF tent, assembled a week ago on the site of a destroyed classroom, Mr. Beckham handed out bags of school supplies to the young students. After helping them paint a colorful mural encouraging hand-washing, he led them to a nearby field for a rousing game of football.

UNICEF and its partners, through the distribution of school tents and learning supplies, have helped return some 420,000 children to the classroom. Recreation kits, and the creation of child-friendly spaces in weather-proof tents, are helping provide crucial psychosocial support, which is needed for children in difficult emergencies, like Haiyan.

Other stops on Mr. Beckham’s visit included a health centre, where UNICEF has supplied a special refrigerator that keeps polio vaccine properly chilled, even during frequent power outages. Mr. Beckham had the privilege of administering polio drops to Mary Kimberly Batis, a girl born one month after the typhoon.

Mr. Beckham stops to pay his respects at a cemetery during an emotional journey to the Philippines to see the devastating effects of the typhoon. Thousands died in the disaster, and more than 1.7 million children were left homeless.

At a mass grave, sitting on the grounds of a Catholic church just south of Palo, Mr. Beckham heard the story of a man who lost most of his family, including a total of 15 children and grandchildren. The makeshift wooden cross marking their gravesite was covered with hand-written Valentine’s Day cards and letters written to his daughter, who was a teacher.

“Happy Valentine’s Day, Ma’am Arleen,” read the words written by a young child on a heart cut out of yellow paper. “We love you. We miss you.”

Before flying out of Tacloban, Mr. Beckham made one last stop. He visited the neighbourhood of Anibong, which sits at water’s edge. Few structures survived the typhoon and the storm surge, and the first thing a visitor notices upon arrival is the three massive ships that were washed ashore and remain on land.

In the shadow of one of the ships, Mr. Beckham joined a water and sanitation team and helped distribute water kits earmarked for each of the 440 households living nearby. Because of the high presence of bacteria in many of the available water sources, says UNICEF WASH Specialist Tai Ring Teh, the chlorine tablets and 20-litre containers in the kits will help protect vulnerable children from such illnesses as diarrhoea and typhoid.

“Here in the Philippines, I have seen how public donations can have an incredible effect on children’s lives in an emergency,” said Mr. Beckham.

By Thomas Nybo

Noy, 8, is studying as part of a mobile education initiative, supported by UNICEF.

“I think data are children,” said Anolack Chanpasith, Education Specialist at UNICEF Laos, “When we analyze data, we are analyzing the situation of people. When I receive data on schools and children, I am receiving information about the problems of children.” He was talking about Lao EduINFO, a database that Lao PDR Ministry of Education has developed with the help of UNICEF to design better education policies.

I recently joined UNICEF as Education Officer for Knowledge Management and Communication at the Regional Office, and I met Anolack during my first visit to a UNICEF Country Office. Having worked for many years in a non-governmental organisation (NGO), I wanted to understand how UNICEF’s policy work with governments helps improve children’s lives.

For example, how does building a database help ensure that children from the poorest families can go to school and prevent them from dropping out? These are some of the main challenges for education policy in Laos.

Most – if not all – government decisions affect children’s lives. It is the government that decides how much budget to allocate to specific sectors – education, health, national security, economic development – and within each sector, which initiatives or policies to take on.

For example, if the government allocates budget for supporting teachers’ salary at primary schools, schools can afford to hire qualified teachers to provide quality education for children. Decisions made by the government can have an enormous impact on children’s daily lives and it is important that they have accurate and comprehensive information.

Although I was unable to visit education projects this time, UNICEF colleagues shared with me a story of Noy, an 8-year-old girl from Bab Sakinay village in Savannakhet in southern Laos. To reach the nearest school, Noy had to walk several kilometres. But now, during the rainy season, a mobile school comes to her village instead.

The mobile school is part of an initiative being tested by the Ministry of Education with the help of UNICEF, reaching nearly 15,000 children like Noy. Data and statistics help UNICEF identify the children and areas that need these kind of interventions.

For Anolack, one of the advantages of Lao EduINFO and other systems like it was how it helped users visualise the data. “For example, when you look at drop-out rate, you don’t just see numbers, but red dots on a map that indicate serious problems in that area. With visualized graphs, numbers become real children.”

“Using visual information also means that it can be understood by people with limited education,” he added. He hopes this could allow schools to explain the situation of children to others in their communities. “Self-awareness is the first step to sustainability, and platforms like Lao EduINFO can help communities realize what problems and issues there are that need to be addressed to improve their children’s lives.”

When I listen to Anolack, I thought this was an example of how UNICEF’s work at the policy level can have an impact on a community or a child. Hopefully, in a few years, there will be a five-year-old girl – one of many – who started to attend school thanks to well-informed and designed policies.

There are various ways to help children in need. You can provide them with a meal. You can send them books. You can build a school for them. For of the policy work, it may take longer to see the difference it makes for an individual child, but if it is done well, the change will be broad and sustainable.

The author
Eunwoo Kim is Education Officer for Knowledge Management and Communication at UNICEF East Asia and Pacific Regional Office.

I recently visited Malaysia to discuss corporate social responsibility (CSR) with leading companies. As my flight came into land and the captain dipped the Airbus below the clouds to line up for the final approach, the green Malaysian countryside came into view. For miles in every direction I could see palm oil plantations; there were scarcely any other types of tree.

According to the Malaysia palm oil council, 15 per cent of Malaysia’s total land surface is covered by palm oil trees. The country is now the largest exporter of palm oil, accounting for 39 per cent of the world’s total production. Half a million people are employed on the plantations and a further million derive their income from the industry. There are huge corporate plantations and small holder farms, plus a huge number of migrant workers who toil away to make the whole process work.

The industry is widely criticized for its negative impacts on the environment, from the burning of vegetation after the harvest to the destruction of wildlife habitats. But I want to talk about the sometimes hidden impacts that this industry has on children’s rights to access basic services, and some encouraging steps being taken in the country to address this complex set of problems.

Asmara’s story

So I’d like you to meet Asmara, age 8, who lives with her mother and two younger siblings in Sabah on a small palm oil farm which sells its fruit to a larger corporate plantation nearby.

Asmara’s family is Indonesian, but she and her brother and sister do not have birth certificates, so they are not allowed to attend school or access health care in the closest village.

Instead, they follow their mother into the rows of palm oil trees every day pruning, cutting and picking up “loose fruit” at harvest time. Asmara’s mother is concerned that her children are not getting an education and that they will end up with no opportunities for a better life when they grow up, but at the moment she doesn’t really have much choice.

Now Asmara is a fictional example because Sabah is not in my itinerary this time. But I bet I would not have to search for long to find a match to my scenario. There are thousands of undocumented children like Asmara who live in the shadows of the palms. As non-Malaysians, they fall outside the government support systems and do not benefit from the services that some (but not all) corporate plantations provide their workers and dependents. They are simply excluded.

Speeding into Kuala Lumpur on the airport link train, my colleague Beth Verhey and I look out at the rows of trees whizzing by us on both sides. Rather than a visit to Sabah, we are actually in KL to meet with Government and industry representatives and, together with colleagues from the UNICEF Malaysia office, to introduce them to the Children’s Rights and Business Principles (CRBP), a new approach to CSR developed by UNICEF and partners.

Our first stop was the Malaysian Companies Commission, or SSM, the official registrar of businesses in Malaysia – and enforcer of the Companies Bill governing corporate activity. UNICEF Malaysia crafted a partnership with the Companies Commission to promote child friendly business practices as part of overall CSR development.

So far, UNICEF Malaysia and the Companies Commission have developed best practice examples and guidelines for various issues such as breastfeeding in the workplace, setting up child care centres, and CSR reporting on children’s rights. Beth and I were there to introduce the CRBP to a group of registered companies of all sizes and in a variety of industries. We also planned to train a smaller group of those companies to become trainers themselves, so that they could carry the CRBP message forward to other Malaysian companies once we headed back to Bangkok.

“So why are we here today talking to you about Children’s Rights?” Beth asked the group of 40 in her opening remarks. A man immediately raised his hand. “I don’t know, I don’t have child labour on my plantation, so I’m not sure why I am here.”

Well was he in for it! Others in the room quickly chimed in “What about small holder farms?” … “What about migrant children, they aren’t even counted!” … “What about children of your employees who follow their parents on the plantation?”

We couldn’t have said it better ourselves.

The point of the CRBP is that UNICEF wants to get business to examine their impact on children’s rights beyond just child labour, which is what we did for the rest of the day. Needless to say, by the end, we had a convert in the plantation manager. He realized that he still had work to do to truly support children’s rights.

Sime Darby

Our next stop was at Sime Darby, a large Malaysian company employing around 100,000 people worldwide to work in plantations, auto dealerships, utilities, construction, and ports. As one of the largest palm oil companies, they have been frequently embroiled in the various CSR debates around this industry.

A few years ago, Sime Darby approached UNICEF to help them assess and address child rights impacts in their business. They showed their commitment to this by creating a Child Protection policy endorsed by the board of directors.

For our meeting, they assembled 60 of their middle and upper managers from each of their divisions for a workshop on child rights, held in their state-of-the-art training centre outside Kuala Lumpur. Beth asked the same question: “So why are we here today talking to you about Children’s Rights?”
Throughout the day, person by person, division by division, possible direct and indirect impacts on children’s rights were identified on post-it notes and white boards, and the enthusiasm in the room seemed to grow and grow.

The workshop went over by more than an hour, yet the group pushed on, identifying the areas warranting further examination. I detected an intense satisfaction, even company pride, that they had widened their gaze on children’s rights through the day, and that this could help them demonstrate their industry leadership even further.

Awaiting our flight back to Bangkok, we felt like we had helped UNICEF Malaysia set something in motion that was very special, and that would ultimately benefit all the children in Malaysia. That is the power of the Children’s Rights and Business Principles.

The author
Michael Copping is Corporate Engagement Specialist at UNICEF East Asia and Pacific

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