Camaraderie and unity are what most of the people want and deserved.

The

United Nations sole purpose is to protect the children, men and women that is serving

the world. Not only to protect them but have peace and unity amongst the different

member countries. There are different divisions of United Nations that have the same

goals and objective which is the harmony and safety of the people. The United Nations

Children’s Fund or also known as UNICEF is one of the branches of the United Nations

that mandates to aid the national struggles of the countries. Its sole purpose is to

provide nutrition, education, shelter and general welfare to the world’s children. UNICEF

began providing aid to the Philippines since November 1948. Ever since, UNICEF and

the government per se have been associates in protecting the welfare of the Filipino

children. The branch of UNICEF is located at Mandaluyong City, Metro Manila. The

branch per se is serving the country for almost seventy years aiming that the Filipino

children will have the best quality in their life through their projects and programs. Some

of the aims of the agency is to promote women’s rights and gender equality by

supporting their political, social and economical participation in the improvement of their

communities; and to supervise children’s welfare worldwide, most importantly in

developing countries by supplying low priced community-based health services.

Knowing the objectives and goals of UNICEF, will be a huge help for us to

analyze the problems and challenges that is happening in our country, the Philippines.

One of the challenges that UNICEF encountered in the Philippines is malnutrition.

According to UNICEF’s post last October 2019, the Filipino children are increasingly

suffering from poor diets, starvation, inadequate nutrition and food intakes that resulted

health diseases such as inadequate growth, diabetes and heart diseases. According to
the statistics of UNICEF, every day there are 95 children in the country that die from

malnutrition. Then 27 out 0f 1,000 Filipino children did not able to reach their fifth

birthday. There are a lot of factors that malnutrition cause in the everyday and future

lives of the children. Through the help of UNICEF, they collaborate with the Philippine

government to deliver services and better systems that gives a child to have a fair life.

They make programs and interventions regarding how to take care of one’s health,

acquired a lot of nutrition and the program the is called WASH which means water,

sanitation and hygiene. The main target of these programs are the children, adolescents

and women. The UNICEF also supports and helps the government on fulfilling social

protection, child protection, health, hygiene and sanitation, nutrition and early childhood

care and development.

Another challenge that UNICEF has encountered is in the country is the high

nutritional toll of HIV/AIDS. According to HIV/AIDS and ART Registry of the Philippines

or HARP, approximately 32 cases of HIV infections are present every day such that it

the Philippines is considered one of the top countries with a growing number in AIDS

cases. Based on the data that UNICEF has gathered, children with the age of 15 to 17

who are diagnosed with HIV have infected through risky behavior such as men having

sexual intercourse with men. Around 10% of the children engaging in this scenario,

according to Integrated HIV Behavioral and Serologic Surveillance or IHBSS, has the

age ranging from12 to 16 [ CITATION Wor18 \l 1033 ]. In addition, teenage pregnancy is also

a concern in this area since young pregnant mom are also at risk such that HIV can be

transmitted from the mother to the unborn child. With this alarming situation, UNICEF

comes with an action and goal of ending HIV as soon as possible. Since HIV affects an
individual based on gender, age, group and culture, programs created were dependent

on the context. With the means of enhancing accessible tests and treatments, HIV can

be prevented.

In conclusion, UNICEF, as one of the branch offices of the United Nations in the

Philippines, serves the country by providing projects and programs that would make

Filipino children’s lives better. Several programs are led by this agency where it includes

child survival, education, child protection and social policy and governance. It aims to

promote women’s rights, gender equality and look after the welfare of Filipino children.

Several challenges were also faced by this agency such as malnutrition and the growing

number of HIV/AIDS cases but eventually actions were already made by UNICEF. It

plays a big role in the lives of the Filipinos especially that our country is still a

developing country.
REFERENCE

UNICEF. (2019, October 16). UNICEF: Many children and adolescents in the

Philippines are not growing up healthily. Retrieved September 12, 2020, from

https://www.unicef.org/philippines/press-releases/unicef-many-children-and-

adolescents-philippines-are-not-growing-healthily

UNICEF. (n.d.). Child survival. Retrieved September 12, 2020, from

https://www.unicef.org/philippines/child-survival

World AIDS Day 2018: Two in Three new HIV infections are among young people,

points to the critical importance of HIV testing. (2018, December 1). Retrieved

from UNICEF: https://www.unicef.org/philippines/press-releases/world-aids-day-

2018-two-three-new-hiv-infections-are-among-young-people-points