KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of the Congo, 23 March 2012 – Years of civil war have limited progress in improving health and sanitation services throughout the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Today, half the population of 66 million still has no access to clean water sources, and one out of every five children under age 5 suffers from persistent diarrhoea.
Cholera outbreak
Since March 2011, the country has also faced a deadly cholera epidemic: In the past 12 months, more than 22,000 cases have been reported, and more than 500 people have been killed. In the past three months alone, the World Health Organization (WHO) has registered more than 5,600 cases. In response to the emergency, UNICEF and its partners are supporting health centres dedicated to the care of cholera-affected patients.
NEW YORK, USA, 9 January 2012 – A quality education is the cornerstone of every child’s rights, yet across the developing world millions of children’s futures are stunted because they don’t have the opportunity to learn.
UNICEF is addressing this deprivation with an innovative approach that aims to remove barriers to success in primary school by giving pre-schoolers the knowledge to successfully enter first grade.
Called ‘Getting Ready for School: a Child-to-Child Approach’, the programme is a low-cost way to provide supplemental education to pre-schoolers, especially the most marginalized.
NEW YORK, USA, 12 December 2011 – The earliest years of a child’s life are pivotal, both for the child’s immediate well-being and for his or her future dev. Effective investments in early childhood development (ECD) have the potential to reduce disparities exacerbated by poverty, poor nutrition and limited learning opportunities.
Through UNICEF’s Back on Track programme on education in emergencies and post-crisis transition, children in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are benefiting from the establishment of ECD centres, where preschool-aged children have access to high-quality, developmentally appropriate services and psychosocial support.
NEW YORK, 4 May 2011 – Making sure girls and women have equal access to quality education is key to sustainable economic development, UNICEF said today, as the world celebrates Global Action Week on Education.
This year’s Global Action Week focuses on Education for Women and Girls, as 53 per cent of all children out of school remain girls denied of the right to learn. Poverty, exploitation and armed conflict magnify the risk girls face even as they go to school, forcing many to stay home or drop out in fear of their safety. In countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, sexual violence and mass rape – a clear violation of their rights – continues to terrify and severely harm women and girls, ultimately denying them access to education.
NEW YORK, USA, 13 February 2009 – Children from 101 countries have appealed to international leaders to take stronger action to end the use of child soldiers.
GOMA, Democratic Republic of the Congo, 11 March 2008 – Moka, 13, was hiding at home with his family when the mortar landed. “It killed my grandfather and my younger brother,” he says. “We saw them dead, blown up, burnt.”
