Children

NASA Astronaut Piers Sellers yesterday returned the red Save the Children t-shirt he carried with him on his 12-day mission to the international space station in May to the global humanitarian organization Save the Children. After sharing experiences of his flight, Sellers presented the t-shirt, autographed by the entire NASA Atlantis crew, to Save the Children's senior director of HIV/AIDS, Margaret Schuler.

Education and counseling centers funded by the IKEA Social Initiative have benefitted nearly 7,300 Pakistani children since their establishment in 2009. The centers were created to provide a protective environment for the most vulnerable children, where they can receive non-formal education in life skills, as well as recreational and vocational training, psycho-social support and referrals.

Los Angeles Lakers basketball star Pau Gasol visited UNICEF's nutrition, education and child protection programs in Ethiopia. Gasol learned about the Community Based Nutrition Program through which community members' work on measures to prevent and treat malnutrition—a major factor contributing to child mortality in Ethiopia. Gasol said his trip confirmed that millions of kids in the world live under very difficult conditions and need our help.

Save the Children commends African heads of state for pledging at the African Union summit to take concrete actions to reduce maternal and child mortality in their countries.

Tyler Lewis is an intern at the U.S. Fund for UNICEF.

Today marks the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability. For the past two decades, the landmark measure has been responsible for ensuring that Americans with disabilities receive fair opportunities for employment and improved accessibility to buildings, transportation, and community events.

Save the Children urges African leaders to recognize that investing in maternal and child health is critical to development — including economic development — in their countries.

Save the Children urged African heads of state to act on the African Union Summit theme of "Maternal, Infant, and Child Health and Development in Africa."

International football star Sergio Ramos visited Senegal just days after his team's victory in the FIFA 2010 World Cup. Besides visiting health centres, Mr. Ramos witnessed the work of UNICEF projects that aim to protect vulnerable children from abuse and exploitation. Many of these children live in urban poverty.

A simple color-coded take-home box called the "Mother Baby Pack" is helping mothers with HIV protect their unborn babies. UNICEF developed the pack based on a technique pioneered by a local health center in Lesotho. Expectant mothers with limited access to health centers are given pre-measured doses and instructions for medicines to take before, during and after their babies are born to help them maintain a preventative routine.

Mark Engman is Director of Public Policy and Advocacy for the U.S. Fund for UNICEF.

At a packed hearing of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission on July 15, 2010, representatives from leading humanitarian organizations, including UNICEF, spoke out against child marriage as a harmful traditional practice and a gross human rights violation that puts young girls at risk and keeps them mired in poverty.