UNITED STATES FUND FOR UNICEF

No. 3, 2009

Saving Lives
During Wartime

Whatever it takes to save a child.

Every Child No. 3, 2009

 In This Issue:

Feature
9 Saving Lives During Wartime

Departments
1 UNICEF in the Field

4 Inside the U.S. Fund

8 Field Visit to the Lao People’s Democratic Republic

14 Partner Profiles:
Clif Wilson — In Memory of Gene Wilson
Jasveer Virk and Paul Kavanagh
Manjari Saha

U.S. Fund for UNICEF

 U N I C EF I N ThE FI Eld

Child Mortality Falls to Record Low

Last month, UNICEF released some star-
tlingly good news: the number of children
dying before their fifth birthday has fallen
to its lowest level ever — about 8.8 million
per year, or 24,000 per day. That figure is
down from 25,500 three years ago and is a
clear indication that the efforts of UNICEF,
its partners, and its supporters are making
a considerable impact on the fight for child
survival.
Perhaps most significant is that the de-
cline in child mortality is actually acceler-
ating — evidence that UNICEF’s low-cost,
proven interventions are reaching more
children. This development is proof that
UNICEF is getting closer to the day when
zero children die of preventable causes.
While this news is cause for celebration,
U.S. Fund for UNICEF President and CEO
Caryl M. Stern declared that 24,000 children
dying each day is a moral outrage. “When
I kissed my child this morning,” she said,
“I knew that there were 24,000 moms who
were not going to get to do that today. That
is a horrible thought.”
She added that the full effect of the glob-
al financial downturn on child mortality
might not yet be known. “Right now, our
biggest fear is that the economic crisis could
stall or reverse the progress,” Stern said.
The new estimates are based on statis-
tics gathered between 1990 and 2008. They
are a result of the collection and analysis of
expert demographic and health data from
UNICEF, the World Health Organization,
the World Bank, and the United Nations
Population Division.
The information shows a 28 percent de-
cline in child mortality between 1990 and
2008 and indicates that progress has been
achieved in every part of the world. One
particularly striking example is Malawi,
where under-five mortality fell by more
than 55 percent between 1990 and 2008.
Advances like these are attributable to
the growing use of key health interventions,
including immunizations, vitamin A sup-
plements, and insecticide-treated mosquito
nets to guard against malaria. UNICEF has
been at the forefront of delivering these
and other lifesaving solutions all across
the globe. UNICEF-led measles immuniza-
tion drives, for example, helped reduce the
global incidence of this lethal disease by 74
percent between 2000 and 2007.
“We know what interventions work,”
said Stern. “Reaching zero preventable
deaths is not a dream. We can achieve this,
but momentum has to be accelerated, so that
no mother experiences the loss of a beloved
child to a completely avoidable cause.”
For more information on the recent drop in child
mortality, please visit: unicefusa.org/24000

UNICEF Responds to Multiple Emergencies in Asia-Pacific

Floodwaters submerging entire towns in the
Philippines. A crushing earthquake in Indone-
sia. A tsunami in Samoa. These three emergen-
cies recently struck within days of one another
throughout Asia-Pacific, leaving scores of chil-
dren and their families homeless, vulnerable to
disease, and in desperate need of assistance.
UNICEF has permanent offices in all countries
affected by these recent disasters and was im-
mediately on the scene with pre-positioned sup-
plies such as tents, blankets, medicines, food,
and water purification tablets. But children in
the region have a long, difficult road ahead —
and they need help.
To provide a lifeline to children impacted in Asia-
Pacific, please visit unicefusa.org/asiapacific

Every Child No. 3, 2009 1

 U N I C EF
Innovations That Save Lives
Sometimes world-changing ideas are, in essence, quite simple. For UNICEF, that’s a very good thing.
UNICEF is constantly developing and employing low-cost, simple solutions to big problems. Here are a
few innovations you may never have heard of that are proving invaluable in the fight for child survival.
RapidSMS Technology
With an estimated 280 million mobile
phone subscribers in Africa, UNICEF saw
an opportunity to turn these common com-
munication gadgets into vital child survival
tools. In 2008, UNICEF began trials of its
new RapidSMS technology. This system
enables UNICEF staff to track nutrition
needs and supplies by compiling mobile
text message data into instant correlated
reports. Until recently, this sort of informa-
tion would be written down on data collec-
tion forms, sent to a centralized office, and
processed by hand. With RapidSMS, child
malnutrition can be mapped and tracked in
real time, enabling governments, UNICEF,
and its partners to respond immediately to
rapidly unfolding nutritional crises.
Fridge-Tags
In order to remain effective, living vaccines
must be kept at constant temperatures.
This sounds easier than it actually is, par-
ticularly when you consider that UNICEF
gets vaccines to children in some of the
most remote and hard-to-reach places in
the world. Fridge-tags provide a simple,
portable means for health workers to moni-
tor the storage temperature of vaccines. A
digital display indicates whether a vaccine
has been exposed to either freezing condi-
tions or excessive heat at any time during
the previous 30 days. If the fridge-tag is ex-
posed to an out-of-range temperature, the
display warns health workers that the vac-
cine may be ineffective or unsafe.
2 U.S. Fund for UNICEF
I N ThE FI Eld
Motorcycle Ambulances
In Guinea, many villages lack proper roads
and are inaccessible by car or truck. As a
result, pregnant women have had virtually
no way to reach a hospital if they experi-
ence birth complications. A UNICEF staff
member, who saw how difficult and dan-
gerous it could be for women in labor to
be cut off from expert health care, had an
inspired idea. Why not create a fleet of mo-
torcycle ambulances similar to those used
for removing injured soccer players from
the field? The motorcycle ambulance — a
motorcycle adapted so that the back half
is a small wagon — can navigate difficult
terrain impassable to larger vehicles. The
program was so successful that UNICEF
recently introduced a version of the motor-
cycle ambulances in Southern Sudan, which
has the worst rate of maternal mortality in
the world.
Auto-disable Syringes
The auto-disable syringe (AD) has an inter-
nal one-way valve, which thoroughly dis-
ables the syringe after a single use. By pre-
venting re-use of syringes, UNICEF and its
partners are able to significantly reduce the
transmission of deadly blood-borne viruses
such as hepatitis B and HIV/AIDS. Syring-
es cost around 5 cents each, making them
an easy, inexpensive way to save lives. And
UNICEF’s immunization programs only use
AD syringes. In 2008, UNICEF procured
more than 2.6 billion doses of vaccines and
over 480 million auto-disable syringes.
 U N I C EF I N ThE FI Eld

Help for Children Fleeing Violent Clashes in Pakistan

Imagine more than 2 million peo-
ple on the move. They are franti-
cally fleeing sudden and deadly
fighting between government
forces and armed militants. On
foot and in overloaded vehicles,
they’re rushing, trying to keep
track of family members and of
their hurriedly packed belong-
ings. They’ve had no time to sleep
or to eat. They don’t know where
they’re going. And nearly half of
them are children.
This was the scene in Paki-
stan’s North-West Frontier Prov-
ince earlier this year. Altogether,
2.3 million people fled their
homes, seeking refuge in safe but
unfamiliar towns. Some ended
up in quickly established camps
Children look down from the terrace of their severely damaged home in the North-West
for internally displaced persons Frontier Province of Pakistan. Their village was reduced to ruins during recent fighting.
(IDPs), others stayed with distant
relatives, many with strangers.
UNICEF responded to this refugee crisis the UNICEF-supported school in the Chota books or other school supplies. They were
immediately, helping establish IDP camps Lahore Camp. Ikram and his entire extend- also terribly scared.” During the height
and supplying families with desperately ed family — including his seven siblings — of the humanitarian crisis in Pakistan,
needed water, health care, vaccines, nutri- fled their village when the fighting began. UNICEF was supporting 36 schools in IDP
ent-rich food, and psychosocial counseling. Now Ikram and his younger sisters, Hinaz camps. “School is important to help these
UNICEF’s flexibility also meant children get back to normal life,”
that women and children seek- Begum added. “It helps them to
ing refuge in host communities Here there is no overcome the trauma of conflict,
— rather than IDP camps — got and gives them a daily routine.”
help, too. bombing. Here Now, with the area stabilized
UNICEF has a well-earned
reputation for helping children in
we aren’t scared. and many families
heading home, UNICEF has an
wearily

conflict (see the feature on page 9).
UNICEF provides assistance for their im-
mediate survival, and creates safe spaces
for them to learn and play, fostering their
long-term well-being.
“Here there is no bombing. Here we aren’t
scared,” said ten-year-old Ikram Ullah at
and Naseema, were attending the camp’s
school along with nearly 900 other students
who escaped the violent clashes.
“These children have come here empty-
handed,” said Haseena Begum, head teach-
er at the school. “They had nothing — no
additional focus — helping the
returning children by rebuilding schools
destroyed during the conflict.
To help children and families displaced
by fighting in Pakistan, please visit:
unicefusa.org/pakistan

Every Child No. 3, 2009 3

 I N sId E
I do not see the countries and peoples of Africa as a world apart; I see
Africa as a fundamental part of our interconnected world — as partners with
America on behalf of the future we want for all of our children.
The Drug That Gives Hope
to Those with River Blindness
In many rural villages around the world,
the river is indispensable to daily life. It is
a family’s well and its food source. It is the
kitchen sink, bathtub, laundry room. Fami-
lies — especially women and children —
may spend hours a day on the banks of the
river. But in so many areas — especially in
African countries — the river harbors great
danger.
River blindness, the common term for
onchocerciasis, affects more than 18 million
4 U.S. Fund for UNICEF
T hE U. s.
– President Barack Obama
Accra, Ghana (July 11, 2009)
people in the world. They become infected
when bitten by a particularly nasty type of
black fly, which is attracted to fast-moving
water. The fly’s bite leaves behind a para-
sitic worm that can cause intense itching,
disfiguring inflammation of the skin, eye
lesions, and, over time, even blindness and
premature death.
Luckily, river blindness can be treated.
Mectizan (ivermectin), a drug developed
®
and manufactured by the pharmaceutical
FUNd
company Merck & Co., Inc., alleviates the
brutal itching that accompanies onchocer-
ciasis and halts progression toward blind-
ness, enabling affected people in endemic
areas to go about their lives without being
overwhelmed by this terrifying disease. In
1987, Merck announced that it would do-
nate Mectizan to all who need it, for as long
as needed. Since then, Merck has stayed
true to its word, supplying more than 2.5
billion tablets of the drug to date through
its Mectizan Donation Program.
In the last ten years, Merck has donated
over $1.2 billion worth of Mectizan to the
U.S. Fund for UNICEF alone. These doses
of the drug have gone primarily to Nigeria,
which has one of the highest rates of river
blindness in the world. In 2008, UNICEF Ni-
geria, working with the ministry of health,
was able to reach more than 10.5 million
people with Merck-supplied Mectizan.
Recent evidence has shown that, with
widespread and long-term treatment, elim-
ination of river blindness might one day be
feasible. This is extraordinary news for all
the people in the world who live — both lit-
erally and figuratively — by the river. And it
would not be possible without the generos-
ity of U.S. Fund partner, Merck & Co., Inc.
 I N sId E T hE U. s. FUNd

Help for Brazil’s Poorest

Brazil has one of the largest economies in
the world (ranked tenth, just after France),
but you wouldn’t guess it based on the deep
poverty of some of its rural areas and of its
cities’ favelas, or slums. While indigenous
families struggle to eke out a living and stay
healthy on deforested reservation lands, an
ever-growing population of urban families
survives amid destitute living conditions,
violent drug crime, and a dearth of services
such as health care and schools.
U.S. Fund partner Kimberly-Clark re-
cently contributed $640,000 to support two
UNICEF programs in Brazil. The funds will
enable UNICEF to provide access to health
care for some of Brazil’s most marginalized
communities in the rural north and Ama-
zon regions. The donation will also help
launch the second phase of UNICEF Bra-
zil’s innovative Urban Platform Program,
which will explore long-term solutions to
benefit 180,000 children living in favelas in
Rio de Janeiro and São Paolo. This contribu-
tion builds on the nearly $1 million given
by Kimberly-Clark to the U.S. Fund for pro-
grams in Brazil over the past two years.

Save the Date

Please help us celebrate the UNICEF Snowflakes!

UNICEF Snowflake Lighting, New York UNICEF Snowflake Lighting, Beverly Hills
Thursday, November 19, 2009 Saturday, November 21, 2009

The UNICEF Snowflake Ball, New York The UNICEF Ball, Beverly Hills
Wednesday, December 2, 2009 Thursday, December 10, 2009

For more information, please call Brittany Mazin at 212-880-9139,

or visit unicefsnowflake.org

The U.S. Fund for UNICEF held

its 2009 Annual Meeting at New
York’s Desmond Tutu Center on
June 18. Many attendees visited
this life-size UNICEF tent, which
was set up in the lobby.The tent
contained more than 20 examples
of Inspired Gifts, such as polio
vaccines and therapeutic milk —
items that donors can purchase
to help UNICEF save and improve
children’s lives. To buy an Inspired
Gift this holiday season or any
other time, please visit:
inspiredgifts.unicefusa.org

Every Child No. 3, 2009 5

 I N sId E T hE U. s. FUNd

Trick-or-Treat: Many Generations, One Cause

For generations of Americans, Hallow-
een has been about more than just gob-
lins, ghouls, and sweets. Trick-or-Treat for
UNICEF (TOT), now entering its 59th year,
has introduced millions of youngsters to
Remembering Reverend
Clyde Allison
Fifty-nine years ago, Reverend Clyde
Allison and his wife, Mary Emma,
wanted to make Halloween more
fun — and more meaningful — for
Presbyterian Sunday school students.
And so Reverend Allison proposed
a pioneering idea: On Halloween,
besides asking for candy, why not ask
for donations to support UNICEF?
On October 31, 1950, Sunday school
students across the country —
including the Allisons’ own children
— knocked on doors and collected
coins in decorated milk cartons. Since
then, this creative concept has given
generations of Trick-or-Treaters a
way to help save the lives of children
all over the globe. Reverend Allison
passed away this year at age 91. We
are awed by, and grateful for, the
powerful legacy of this extraordinary
man and his family.
the power of philanthropy and has instilled
in them a lifelong passion for helping the
world’s children.
Since 1950, TOT has grown into the U.S.
Fund’s longest-running campaign, gener-
ating more than $144 million dollars and
touching millions of lives — both at home
and abroad. For many supporters, their
commitment to UNICEF began while toting
that little orange box door-to-door decades
ago. And every year, Trick-or-Treat for
UNICEF provides a new opportunity for
the youngest Americans to experience the
satisfaction that comes from helping others.
This year, the campaign continues to
grow. We are especially excited to have
UNICEF Ambassador Selena Gomez back
for a second year as our National TOT
spokesperson. Selena will be promoting
TOT throughout October in national media
interviews, a special online launch event,
and through social media sites like Twitter
and Facebook.
Home & Garden Television (HGTV) has
joined the campaign family as the 2009 Na-
tional Media Partner. The channel will air
a Halloween special highlighting Trick-or-
Treat for UNICEF on Sunday, October 18,
and Saturday, October 24, at 8 P.M. Procter
& Gamble, a continuing National Partner,
will match funds donated through HGTV.
com, up to $100,000, through October 31,
2009. American Airlines, Baskin-Robbins,
Coinstar, Hallmark Gold Crown, KIDZ
BOP, and Pier 1 Imports® are also proud
supporters.
The U.S. Fund is pleased to continue
working with M.L.S.W.O.R.K.S — Ma-
jor League Soccer’s community outreach
initiative — and SAY Soccer, to involve
youth soccer players in this year’s Hal-
loween campaign. Key Club Interna-
tional, a longtime community partner of
Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF, is focusing
this year’s funds on supporting Opera-
tion Uruguay, helping to build community
centers for Uruguay’s most vulnerable
adolescents.
Visit unicefusa.org/trickortreat for more informa-
tion on how to get involved. The earliest online
registrants for “Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF Hal-
loween Parties” will receive free party kits.
And remember, whether hosting a commu-
nity event or simply ordering boxes, you’re par-
ticipating in a tradition aimed at reaching a day
when no child dies from a preventable cause.

6 U.S. Fund for UNICEF

 Donor Activities at Home and Abroad
Making a Difference

Senior Director of Major Gifts Leslie Goldman and donors Wendy Serrino, UNICEF Togo Representative Una McCauley (third from l.) with
Shelly Dee, and Wendy Adams with children on a recent field visit to Laos. donors Lizzie, Jill, and Jim Cochran at an event in Dallas.

CNN anchor Anderson Cooper, with donor Ty Harvey and U.S. Fund for UNICEF Next Generation Steering Committee members Jillian
Midwest Regional Board co-chair Gary Beu at the U.S. Fund Gumbel, Caroline Johnston Polisi, and Danielle Abraham at the group’s launch
for UNICEF’s Annual Meeting in New York. event in New York, where they helped raise over $44,000 for a micronutrient
supplement program in Guatemala.

Incoming New England Regional Board chair Kaia Miller-
Goldstein with the President of Rwanda, His Excellency Paul
Kagame; First Lady of Rwanda Madame Jeannette Kagame;
and Jonathan Goldstein at the 2009 Children’s Champion
Dinner in Boston.
UNICEF Brazil Chief of HIV/AIDS Daniela Ligiero; Board members Sherrie
Westin, Dolores Gahan, Sarah Walton, and Téa Leoni; U.S. Fund Chief Program
Officer Cynthia McCaffrey; U.S. Fund President and CEO Caryl M. Stern; and
supporters Sarah Wren, Paula Zahn, and Jungwon Chai joined women and
children at a UNICEF-sponsored community center in Brazil.

Every Child No. 3, 2009 7

 Signs of Progress in the Lao People’s Democratic
Republic
In May, U.S. Fund for UNICEF Senior
Director of Major Gifts Leslie Goldman
accompanied three donors on a trip to
the Lao People’s Democratic Republic to
observe UNICEF-supported health, HIV/
AIDS, and education programs. One of
the donors, Wendy Adams, provided
this account of the five-day visit.

We arrived in Nonhsavanh, a remote

Hmong village in the country’s mountain-
ous north, to find local residents already
gathered in the sweltering heat. Mothers
clutched babies to their chests, while hold-
ing bright yellow vaccination cards. One
young teenage father tenderly cradled his
ten-day-old son, staring at him in awe. In
a nearby field, several small boys tossed
bocce balls back and forth. The villagers had
assembled under a large tree to receive a
variety of health services from a UNICEF-
supported mobile team.
We watched as babies were vaccinated,
and as parents learned about proper nu-
trition and breastfeeding practices. The
remarkable event was the result of persis-
tent coordinated efforts between UNICEF
and staff from local health clinics to combat
superstitions about immunization and to
persuade residents to forego a day of work
in the fields so their families could benefit
from essential health care.
Unlike the other villages we had visited,
Nonhsavanh has no electricity. The commu-
nity shelter leans precariously. The school
is a modest structure with a thatched roof.
Even so, the children crammed onto rows
of wooden benches on an uneven dirt floor
and watched eagerly as their teacher wrote
sums on a chalkboard.
What a stark contrast to a UNICEF-sup-
ported school we visited earlier in the week
in the town of Phonsavang. There, children
sat behind desks in a newly built classroom.
They had access to clean drinking water and
sanitation facilities. UNICEF-trained teach-
ers created a friendly and engaging atmo-
sphere that encouraged children to thrive.
The success of UNICEF’s partnership with
the school, ministry of education, and the
community in creating a nurturing learning
environment was evidenced in the smiles
on every child’s face that day.
Many other children in the Lao People’s
Democratic Republic face severe daily hard-
ships. Diarrhea caused by unsafe drinking
water remains one of the country’s lead-
ing causes of child death. Malnutrition
stemming from poverty and poor feeding
practices makes children more vulnerable
to disease and makes it harder for them to
concentrate in school.
I became a UNICEF donor because I
struggle to understand why there is so
much poverty in this world; why children
continue to die from preventable diseases
like tetanus; why they suffer from malnu-
trition; why they go without clean water or
walls and a roof. The means and technology
exist to right these wrongs, yet the needs
are so great.
But during our visit, we saw that
UNICEF and its partners are meeting many
of these needs in the Lao People’s Demo-
cratic Republic. From clean-water taps, to
billboards that convey health information, to
the efforts of UNICEF-trained health work-
ers to provide antenatal care and promote
proper hygiene — improvements in the
lives of children are visible in every village.

8 U.S. Fund for UNICEF

Saving Lives During Wartime
In Violence-Torn Countries

like somalia, UNICEF Finds a

Way to help Children survive

By Adam Fifield

An entire generation of Somalia’s children has known little

but conflict and chaos. For nearly 18 years, intense civil strife
has wracked this arid, boomerang-shaped nation on Africa’s
horn. The raging violence has killed and injured young and
old alike, uprooted and displaced families, demolished in-
frastructure, stunted development, forced scores of children
into becoming armed combatants, and, for many, made any
semblance of normalcy seem like an impossible dream.
Add severe drought, crushing poverty, hyperinflation,
and high levels of malnutrition — and you have what many
consider to be the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. The re-
lentless volatility also means that, in a country where more
than half the population depends on humanitarian assis-
tance, the risks for those providing that help are extreme.
Aid agency staff members are routinely threatened and
kidnapped. Last year alone, 33 humanitarian workers were
killed in Somalia, including a veteran UNICEF consultant
(see sidebar on page 13).
The task of providing children with essential services in
such an environment is forbidding. Yet, remarkably, the cou-
rageous staff members of UNICEF Somalia have been able
to make a huge impact on the lives of the country’s youngest
and most vulnerable inhabitants.
UNICEF and its partners have supplied millions of in-
ternally displaced people with basic health care, helped
reduce the incidence of malaria among those using insec-
ticide-treated bed nets from 17 percent to 7 percent, and

Every Child No. 3, 2009 9

 FEATUrE

Saving Lives During Wartime, continued from page 9

cut measles cases from more than 8,000 in

2003 to around 1,000 last year. After suc-
cessive UNICEF-supported polio vaccina-
tion drives, the country has been polio-
free since March 2007. And last December,
UNICEF, the World Health Organization,
and local health authorities launched an
ambitious countrywide operation
that delivered an assortment of
critical interventions to nearly 1 It is possible to deliver
million children.
“It is possible to deliver for
children in very difficult circum-
stances,” said Suraya Dalil, Chief
difficult circumstances.
of Accelerated Child Survival and
Development for UNICEF Somalia.
The achievements in Somalia confirm
this and show that — no matter how dire or
dangerous the conditions — UNICEF will
find a way to save children’s lives.
WAR’S TOLL ON CHILDREN
AROUND THE WORLD
As many as a billion children live in coun-
tries or territories rent by armed conflict,
and some 300 million of them are under
age five. War’s impact on children has be-
for children in very
come “more brutal than ever,” according to
the Machel Study 10-Year Strategic Review:
Children and Conflict in a Changing World.
Released in June by UNICEF and the Spe-
cial Representative of the Secretary-General
on Children and Armed Conflict, the report
reviews conclusions of a groundbreaking
1996 study on children and conflict by UN
expert Graça Machel.
Today, children are victimized by war in
myriad cruel and appalling ways, the study
found. The increase in armed groups; the
blurring of lines between com-
batants and civilians; landmines;
terrorism and counter-terrorism
— all of these have a dispropor-
tionately disastrous effect on
children’s health and well-being.
Children are also specifically tar-
geted in attacks on schools and
hospitals and are recruited as soldiers. As
families are displaced in the tumult of vio-
lence, children are sometimes left to fend
for themselves. And both girls and boys
suffer the horror of sexual assault, which is

10 U.S. Fund for UNICEF

increasingly used as a weapon of war.
But perhaps the gravest consequence of
war is not the most obvious or immediate.
“Children and women can die because
of direct results of war and conflict, but it’s
even worse when they are trapped and de-
nied the possibility of receiving assistance
and services,” said David S. Bassiouni,
Principal Officer for UNICEF’s Office of
Emergency Programs. “This may cause
more deaths than the actual violence.”
Without access to health care, food, clean
water, or schooling, children whose lives are
upended by conflict are more susceptible to
disease, malnutrition, and early death.
UNICEF works in dozens of violence-
plagued countries, protecting children
from the direct and long-term results of
conflict. Among its vast array of programs,
UNICEF sets up family-tracing systems
to help children who have been separated
from their families; provides medical treat-
ment and psychosocial counseling for vic-
tims of sexual assault; and helps earn the
release of child soldiers and reintegrates
them into their communities. UNICEF has
also been instrumental in making children’s
welfare a more central component of peace
negotiations and in pushing for internation-
al standards that prevent child recruitment.
CHILD HEALTH DAYS
In 2007, UNICEF Somalia was deter-
mined to reach more children with critical,
high-impact services. In many countries,
UNICEF provides vaccines, medicines,
training, and other assistance to health clin-
ics. But in Somalia, decades of turmoil had
displaced millions of people and had stark-
ly corroded the quality and accessibility
of health care. In some areas, there simply
were no clinics. In others, clinics operated
for only a few hours a day, and available
services were often woefully inadequate.
The staff at UNICEF Somalia decided to try

Silencing Guns in Afghanistan

UNICEF has helped vaccinate millions of children in Afghanistan against polio, but the vast, mountainous nation remains one of only four
countries in the world where the lethal disease persists. Fierce fighting has made the goal of eradicating it especially difficult.
In early 2007, UNICEF Afghanistan Communications Officer roshan Khadivi met with Jeremy Gilley, a documentary filmmaker and
the head of a nonprofit organization called Peace One day. Gilley was making a film about his attempts to promote the observance of
the International day of Peace on september 21. Khadivi told him that, in honor of this special day, UNICEF and other parties would try to
broker a cease-fire in Afghanistan.
“There were a lot of doubts,” Khadivi recalled in an interview. “We had no idea how things would turn out.”
After months of planning and extensive negotiations involving UNICEF, the World health Organization, Afghan authorities, community
organizations, and all parties to the conflict, among others, it was agreed that warring factions would halt hostilities from september 19,
2007 through september 21, 2007.
UNICEF and its partners used this precious opportunity to conduct a nationwide immunization campaign and to reach areas that had
been missed on previous vaccination drives due to safety concerns. during those
three days, over 10,000 health workers were able to inoculate more than 1.4 mil-
lion children against polio.
Unlike previous immunization drives in Afghanistan — in which vaccinators had
been attacked and abducted — no one was harmed.
The polio campaign was repeated in observance of the International day of
Peace in 2008 and 2009, with similar success. “To this day, I can’t believe it hap-
pened,” said Khadivi, who is now working with UNICEF Ukraine. “But it did.”
she added: “If it can happen once — and we can reach so many children in
conflict-affected areas — it can happen again and again and again.”

Every Child No. 3, 2009 11


Saving Lives During Wartime, continued from page 11
a new approach.
“We knew that facility-based health care
is not very effective,” said UNICEF Soma-
lia’s Suraya Dalil. “So the question for us
was, ‘How can we take very critical services
and bring them closer to the population?’”
The answer was Child Health Days.
UNICEF, the World Health Organization
(WHO), local health authorities, and other
partners started the mammoth initiative in
December of last year and completed it in
June 2009. Modeled after vaccination cam-
paigns — which UNICEF and WHO have
conducted numerous times in Somalia —
the program bundled immunizations with
a host of other interventions. UNICEF had
12 U.S. Fund for UNICEF
FEATUrE
implemented Child Health Days in other
countries, but never before at this magni-
tude.
After negotiations with community and
religious leaders, thousands of trained
health workers fanned out across Soma-
lia. They set up tables under large trees,
at schools, and at water points. Volunteers
with megaphones walked through nearby
streets, announcing the campaign. Lines
formed quickly, mostly mothers with tod-
dlers and babies in tow.
“The turnout was high,” said Dalil. “Fam-
ilies were so desperate, and they wanted to
do something for their children.”
Because of the unpredictable security
situation, UNICEF carefully monitored cer-
tain areas to determine whether the teams
could operate there. “We had to feel it out
in some places,” Dalil said. If an area was
deemed unsafe, “then we would wait un-
til the situation improved,” she said. There
were a few volatile places where the teams
could not go.
Nevertheless, the results of the campaign
were extraordinary. After the first round
in December, nearly a million children re-
ceived measles, polio, tetanus, and other
immunizations, vitamin A supplements,
and nutritional screening, among other
services. Over 700,000 women were vacci-
nated against tetanus. The second wave of

the nationwide campaign was launched in
August.
DAYS OF TRANQUILITY
At first blush, the idea seems startlingly
idealistic: convince warring parties to halt
hostilities so that children can get crucial
health care. Could something so audacious
actually work?
Incredibly enough, yes. Over the last 25
years, UNICEF has brokered cease-fires in
18 conflict-ravaged countries, including Bu-
rundi, Colombia, El Salvador, Lebanon, the
Philippines, Sudan, and, recently, Afghani-
stan (see sidebar on page 11). Called Days
of Tranquility or Corridors of Peace, the
cease-fires have allowed children and fami-
Our place is to
save lives and
reduce suffering.
lies stranded in conflict zones to receive life-
saving immunizations and medicines.
First proposed in 1983 by the late Nils
Thedin, of the Swedish Committee for
UNICEF, the idea was widely put into
practice by former UNICEF Executive Di-
rector, the late James Grant. In 1985, Grant
negotiated a three-day cease-fire in El Sal-
vador, during which 250,000 children were
immunized against polio, measles, and
other diseases. Grant also met with warring
parties in Sudan in 1989 and helped create
conflict-free corridors that enabled humani-
tarian workers to deliver badly needed
supplies and that laid the groundwork for
a long-term international relief effort called
“Operation Lifeline Sudan.”
If the antagonists in a conflict are not
swayed by compassion, then a differ-
ent tack is taken, said UNICEF’s David
Bassiouni. Negotiators, he said, might
try this line of argument: “Now, or af-
ter the war, these are the people you
are going to need to vote for you.”
In the early 1990s, Bassiouni was the
UNICEF Representative for Somalia.
At the time, the southern city of Baidoa
was seized by terrible famine. The sit-
uation was so bad — so many people
were dying — that Baidoa earned the
grim nickname “City of Death.” Fight-
ing made it impossible to get food and
other supplies to starving inhabitants.
“People were dying like flies,”
Bassiouni said, recalling that an-
guished time.
In 1992, Bassiouni met with
the leaders of a half-dozen mili-
tant groups. He went to their
homes and sat down at their
dinner tables. One by one, he
convinced each of them to agree
not to disrupt deliveries of aid along a
route from the capital, Mogadishu, to
Baidoa. This “corridor of peace” held
firm for several years.
Cease-fires like these embody
UNICEF’s resolve to reach any child
whose life is threatened. That every ef-
fort must be made to protect the most
vulnerable from the ruinous, stran-
gling grip of war is a conviction shared
by all who work for UNICEF.
“Our place,” said Bassiouni simply,
“is to save lives and reduce suffering.”
To support UNICEF’s work in Somalia,
please visit: unicefusa.org/somalia
Remembering Those
Who Lost Their Lives
Saving Children
UNICEF’s dedicated field staff
risk their lives every day. Since
2006, 14 UNICEF workers have
been killed while carrying out their
duties to save children’s lives.
Within the last year, UNICEF lost
two colleagues as a result of
militant attacks.
Water engineer Mukhtar Mohammed
Hassan was shot at close range on
October 19, 2008, as he walked with
friends through the town of huddur in
southern somalia. Gunmen shot into
the air to disperse the crowd and then
directly targeted Mukhtar, who was
working with UNICEF in southern and
central somalia to help bring clean
drinking water and sanitation to areas
where children and families are at high
risk for waterborne diseases.
On June 9, 2009, Perseveranda So,
UNICEF’s Chief of Education in
Pakistan, was killed when a massive
car bomb exploded at the Pearl
Continental hotel in Peshawar. The
hotel was serving as home base
for many aid workers responding
to the humanitarian crisis brought
on by fighting between Pakistan’s
government forces and armed militants
in the North-West Frontier Province
(see page 3). All told, Persy so had
been with UNICEF for 15 years. As
Chief of Education in Pakistan, she
strove to make sure that all children in
that country — especially girls — had
access to schooling.
Every Child No. 3, 2009 13
 PA rTNEr
Why I Give: Clif Wilson — in Memory of Gene Wilson
My late wife Gene dedicated much of her
life to one crucial cause: UNICEF. She be-
lieved that to create a better, more peaceful
world, you have to start with children. The
idea that we all must do whatever we can to
end the suffering and death of the youngest
and most helpless — no matter where in the
world they live — was a conviction that en-
ergized Gene for more than 30 years.
We were both members of the United
Nations Association in Tucson, Arizona,
and that’s where Gene first learned about
UNICEF. It gripped her right away. In the
1960s, she and her friend Mary Kelly sold
Why We Give: Jasveer Virk and Paul Kavanagh
JASVEER
My first visit to India must have been when
I was around seven years old, and seeing
the abject poverty was frightening. I re-
member being in a taxi and watching street
children run up, begging for money. Hav-
ing been raised in London, I’d never exper-
14 U.S. Fund for UNICEF
PrO FI l Es
UNICEF greeting cards out of the trunks
of their cars, and in 1975, they founded the
United Nations Center in Tucson. Gene
managed the center for 27 years, with sup-
port from a small staff and many volun-
teers. They sold arts and crafts, clothing,
UNICEF merchandise, and other items
from around the world. The proceeds
helped fund local United Nations educa-
tion programs and also generated more
than $1 million for UNICEF over the years.
I played a very small part, providing moral
support and some volunteer help, but I am
immensely proud of — and humbled by —
my wife’s achievement.
She spent many of her waking hours run- the U.S. Fund and became a member of the
ning the center. A 40-hour workweek was a Legacy Society. The annuity serves a dual
short week for her. She was often there on purpose, supporting the work of UNICEF
Saturdays and Sundays. We rarely took va- and also providing me with regular pay-
cations. It was her dream, and it gave her a ments for the rest of my lifetime.
rich life — because UNICEF‘s mission is so My gift annuity does something else,
fundamental. We also donated to the U.S. too. It allows me to honor — and in a small
Fund for UNICEF every year. way, carry on — my wife’s incredible legacy
I lost Gene in November 2002, but I of service to children. For that, I am most
continue to support the cause that was so grateful.
close to her heart. In her memory, I bought To learn more about charitable gift
annuities with the U.S. Fund or for
a crystal for the UNICEF Snowflake on 5th
information about the Legacy Society, please
Avenue in New York City. And last year, I contact Karen Metzger at 866-486-4233 or
established a charitable gift annuity with legacygifts@unicefusa.org
ienced anything like it before. I said to my
parents, what do they need? I just felt so
horrible for those children. When Paul and
I got married, we talked a lot about giving. I
had the experience of my visits to India and
of being intimately involved with families
living in impoverished conditions. And we
 PA rTNEr
had the means to give. We realized that there
was so much good that we could do. What
appealed to us about UNICEF was its abil-
ity to reach so many people and have such
a wide impact. We felt that it would take an
organization like UNICEF to coordinate the
effort needed to make global change.
PAUL
I really wanted to give for a variety of rea-
sons. I grew up comfortably middle class,
and I spent most of my twenties generally
uninvolved. Hearing about Jasveer’s life
experiences was distressing. It was much
more personal than whatever prior expo-
Why I Give: Manjari Saha
I always saw my parents giving. And not
just money — they gave their time. When I
was a kid, all my classmates’ moms would
be home when they got home for lunch.
But not mine. So I used to get mad at her.
PrO FI l Es
sure I had had to poverty in the develop-
ing world. We started to make more mon-
ey in our thirties, and we got to the point
where it really didn’t feel right just to sit
on it or spend it exclusively on ourselves.
We looked at a number of charities, and we
ended up finding a group that we feel helps
the people who need it most. UNICEF was
a clear choice. There are a lot of intellectual
reasons to help children, but maybe the
most important is the emotional one. You
just know it’s the right thing to do. I think
the question isn’t why you do it, it’s why
you wouldn’t.
I’d think, “Why aren’t you at home, sitting I give to the U.S. Fund for UNICEF be-
with me when I eat my lunch?” Well, she cause I want to make the biggest difference
was out volunteering, donating her time. in the world. UNICEF is the world’s 911 —
She did a lot of work in the Calcutta slums. it responds when and where children and
Later, when I became an adult and began families need it. And I feel that my dollar
getting involved in my own causes, I real- goes so much further with UNICEF than
ized how incredibly lucky I was to have a with any other organization. Being a busi-
mom like that. A mom who worked so hard nesswoman, I always look for the biggest
to help others. bang for my buck. UNICEF offers tremen-
So it’s really not an op-
tion for me not to give.
It’s just very unnatural
not to. I’m astounded that
it’s 2009 and, despite all
the resources the world
has, 24,000 children still
die every day from pre-
ventable causes. I just
can’t accept that we, as
civilized people, allow
this to happen.
Every Child No. 3, 2009 15
 PA rTNEr PrO FI l Es

Why I Give: Manjari Saha, continued from page 15

dous value as well as quality. With UNICEF,
I can probably save about ten more lives
with the same dollar that I would give to
another organization.
When you hear about less than a dollar
saving a child’s life, that’s something. You
think, okay, how can I multiply that? And
I tell you, it becomes really hard to buy a
designer handbag after that. You can’t help
but wonder how many lives could be saved
for the cost of that bag.
To learn why the U.S. Fund for UNICEF
consistently earns Charity Navigator’s
highest rating, please visit:
unicefusa.org/charitynavigator

Photo Credits Board of Directors

Cover: UNICEF/NYHQ2009-0521/Marta Ramoneda Honorary Co-Chairs Honorary Members Produced by the
P. 1: UNICEF/NYHQ2009-1446/Mike Alquinto George H.W. Bush Joy Greenhouse Department
P. 2: Ken Banks, kiwanja.net Jimmy Carter Helen G. Jacobson of Editorial and Creative
UNICEF/Guinea/ Tabassy Baro William J. Clinton Susan C. McKeever Services
Berlinger & Co. AG Lester Wunderman
UNICEF/NYHQ2005-1498/Asad Zaidi Chair Emeritus Executive Editor
P. 3: UNICEF/NYHQ2009-1254/Marta Ramoneda Hugh Downs Mia Brandt
Directors
P. 4: UNICEF/NYHQ2006-0513/Indrias Getachew Susan V. Berresford
P. 5: UNICEF/NYHQ2006-1354/Claudio Versiani Chair Managing Editor
Daniel J. Brutto
Jonathan Ragle Anthony Pantaleoni Adam Fifield
James A. Block
U.S. Fund for UNICEF/David Heitholt
Nelson Chai
P. 6: Charles Pottsmith Vice Chair Art Director
Gary M. Cohen
Jim Salzano Peter Lamm Nicole Pajor
Mary Callahan Erdoes
P. 7: Clockwise from top left: Leslie Goldman; Jason Wynn
President Pamela Fiori
Photography; David Heitholt; Patrick McMullan; Assistant Managing Editor
John Kreis; Dolores Gahan Caryl M. Stern Dolores Rice Gahan
Jen Banbury
P. 8: U.S. Fund for UNICEF/Leslie Goldman Bruce Scott Gordon
P. 9: UNICEF/NYHQ2007-0039/Michael Kamber Secretary Vincent John Hemmer
Contributing Editor
P. 10: UNICEF/NYHQ2009-1303/Olivier Asselin Gary M. Cohen Peter Lamm
Eileen Coppola
P. 11: UNICEF/NYHQ2007-1074/Shehzad Noorani Téa Leoni
P. 12: UNICEF/NYHQ2006-0027/Brendan Bannon Treasurer Robert Manoukian
Designer
P. 14: Courtesy of Clif & Gene Wilson; Courtesy of Clif & Edward G. Lloyd Anthony Pantaleoni
Joanna Wexler
Gene Wilson; UNICEF/NYHQ2008-1208/Adam Ferguson Amy L. Robbins
P. 15: Courtesy of Jasveer Virk & Paul Kavanagh; Courtesy of Honorary Directors Henry S. Schleiff
James H. Carey Copyright © 2009
Manjari Saha; UNICEF/NYHQ2005-0303/Josh Estey Kathi P. Seifert
P. 16: UNICEF/ HQ06-2268/Giacomo Pirozzi Roy E. Disney U.S. Fund for UNICEF.
Caryl M. Stern
Inside back cover: UNICEF/NYHQ2005-1922/ Marvin J. Girouard Jim Walton All rights reserved.
Roger LeMoyne Anthony Lake Sherrie Rollins Westin
Inset: Courtesy of Dorothy & Tom Miglautsch John C. Whitehead
Envelope: UNICEF/HQ99-0859/Roger LeMoyne

16 U.S. Fund for UNICEF

 Dorothy & Tom Miglautsch
Legacy Society Members

“My husband and I traveled

extensively and witnessed
firsthand the plight of children
living in impoverished countries
throughout the world. The children
of Haiti were especially close to
our hearts, as we spent several
months each year in the Caribbean.
We believe children are the
innocent, helpless victims of war,
preventable disease, and other
ills, and that UNICEF is the most
effective organization in relieving
their suffering.

Thus we bequeathed the

balance of our estate to
UNICEF.”

The U.S. Fund

for UNICEF Legacy Society
Recognizing Those Who Have Invested
In the Future of the World’s Children
To learn more about how you can create a legacy of life for future generations
of children, please contact Karen Metzger toll-free at (866) 486-4233,
or email legacygifts@unicefusa.org
No child should die of a preventable cause. Every day 24,000 do. We believe that number should be zero.
Believe in zero.

• The U.S. Fund for UNICEF has earned

5 consecutive 4-star ratings from
Charity Navigator. Only 4% of charities
evaluated by this trusted organization
have received its highest ranking for at
least 5 straight years.
• We meet all 20 of the Better Business
Bureau’s Wise Giving Alliance
Standards for Charity Accountability.

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