UNICEF
1 million Afghan children could die from malnutrition: Unicef
Around 1 million Afghan children are projected to suffer from severe acute malnutrition over this year and could die without treatment, the UN warned Monday.
Almost 10 million children across Afghanistan need humanitarian assistance to survive, Unicef Executive Director Henrietta Fore said.
She added that an estimated 4.2 million children in Afghanistan are out of school, including more than 2.2 million girls.
Approximately 435,000 children and women in the war-torn country, where the Taliban have taken power, are internally displaced, the UN agency said.
READ: When the music stops: Afghan ‘happy place’ falls silent
This is the grim reality facing Afghan children, and it remains so regardless of ongoing political developments and changes in government, Henrietta said. "We anticipate that the humanitarian needs of children and women will increase over the coming months amid a severe drought and consequent water scarcity, the devastating socioeconomic consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic and the onset of winter."
Urging the Taliban and other parties to ensure safety, the UN agency – responsible for providing humanitarian and developmental aid to children worldwide – called for a "timely and unfettered access to reach children in need wherever they are."
Although many people fear retribution and are scrambling to flee the country, the Taliban have assured the security of foreign missions, international organisations, and aid agencies.
"I would like to assure you that we will not allow anybody to do anything against you," spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said in the group's first press conference since taking control of Afghanistan on August 15.
READ: Afghan woman gives birth on US evacuation flight
The group promised that it would respect women's rights "within the framework of Islamic law."
"They are going to be working with us, shoulder-to-shoulder with us. The international community, if they have concerns, we would like to assure them that there's not going to be any discrimination against women, but, of course, within the frameworks that we have," he said.
Bangladesh seeks Covid jabs from Canada
Dhaka has urged Canada to consider providing Covid-19 jabs to Bangladesh directly as well as through the COVAX initiative to help the country inoculate the Rohingya refugees and host communities.
Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen held a virtual meeting with Canadian Minister of International Development Karina Gould on Wednesday and made the request.
Canada has so far contributed 545 million dollars and 30 million surplus Covid vaccine doses to COVAX. The Canadian Minister is a co-chair in the COVAX Humanitarian Buffer.
Read:Canadian Minister to begin virtual visit to Bangladesh this evening
Gould assured Momen that Canada would give due consideration to Bangladesh’s request to provide jabs, including for the displaced Rohingya Muslims and the host communities.
She also recalled that Canada has already provided medicine and oxygen concentrator support to Bangladesh through UNICEF and some NGOs, and said that such assistance, including vaccine support, may come again.
Informing that the government has already commenced vaccinating the refugees over 55 years numbering around 48,000, the Foreign Minister highlighted the fact that not a single Rohingya person in Bangladesh has so far died due to Covid.
Underscorimg the natural hazards that Kutupalong camps have been facing, Momen said the UN and the international community need to come forward to support the humanitarian operations in Bhashan Char as soon as possible.
The Bangladeshi Foreign Minister also thanked Canada for its consistent political and humanitarian support for the displaced and persecuted Rohingyas, including for the ongoing genocide case in the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
Bhutan fully vaccinates 90% of eligible adults within a week
The Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan has fully vaccinated 90% of its eligible adult population within just seven days, its health ministry said Tuesday.
The tiny country, wedged between India and China and home to nearly 800,000 people, began giving out second doses on July 20 in a mass drive that has been hailed by UNICEF as “arguably the fastest vaccination campaign to be executed during a pandemic.”
In April, Bhutan grabbed headlines when its government said it had inoculated around the same percentage of eligible adults with the first dose in under two weeks after India donated 550,000 shots of AstraZeneca vaccine.
But the country faced a shortage for months after India, a major supplier of the AstraZeneca shot, halted exports as it scrambled to meet a rising demand at home as infections surged.
Read: Vaccine inequity biggest barrier to ending pandemic: WHO chief
Bhutan was able to restart its drive last week after half a million doses of Moderna vaccine arrived from the United States as a donation under the U.N.-backed COVAX program, an initiative devised to give countries access to coronavirus vaccines regardless of their wealth.
Some 5,000 shots of Pfizer were also facilitated through COVAX, which is co-led by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the World Health Organization and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovation.
It also received more than 400,000 AstraZeneca shots from Denmark, Croatia and Bulgaria in the last two weeks.
“Our aim is to achieve herd immunity among our population in the shortest possible time to avert a major public health crisis,” Dechen Wangmo, Bhutan’s health minister, told The Associated Press.
Many Western countries with far more resources are yet to vaccinate such a high rate of eligible adults.
Health experts say Bhutan’s small population helped, but the country also benefited from strong and effective messaging from top officials and an established cold chain storage system.
Read: Prof Yunus renews call for ensuring vaccine equality breaking profit wall
More than 3,000 health workers participated and 1,200 vaccination centers across the country helped ensure that shots reached every eligible adult. In some cases, health workers trekked for days through landslides and pouring rain to reach extremely remote villages atop steep mountains to administer doses to those unable to get to a center, said Dr. Sonam Wangchuk, a member of Bhutan’s vaccination task force.
“Vaccination is the pillar of Bhutan’s healthcare initiative,” he said.
Bhutan’s government is also led by medical practitioners. The prime minister, the foreign minister and the health minister are all medical professionals. And frequent messaging from the government, which directly answers questions from the public about the coronavirus and vaccinations on Facebook, also helped combat vaccine hesitancy among citizens.
“In fact, people are quite eager to come and get themselves vaccinated,” Dr. Wangchuk said.
Its prime minister, Lotay Tshering, and monarch, King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, were also early advocates of the vaccine, which allayed fears surrounding the rollout. The king also toured the country to raise awareness about the vaccination drive.
Bhutan is the last remaining Buddhist kingdom in the Himalayas, but it has transitioned from an absolute monarchy to a democratic, constitutional monarchy.
Read: What is a COVID-19 vaccine “breakthrough” case?
Another crucial ingredient in the vaccine drive is the country’s extensive network of citizen volunteers called “desuups,” said Will Parks, the UNICEF representative for Bhutan. Some 22,000 citizens volunteered over the last year and a half to raise awareness, dispel misinformation, help conduct mass screening and testing and even carry vaccines across the country’s difficult terrain, he said.
Bhutan’s success is an anomaly in South Asia where countries such as India and Bangladesh are struggling to ramp up their vaccination rates. Experts say it underscores the importance of richer countries donating vaccines to the developing world and highlights just how big an impact the government and community outreach can have.
“Perhaps this little Himalayan kingdom can be a beacon of hope to a region that is on fire,” Parks said.
Childhood vaccination rates plummeted in S Asia
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to major reductions in childhood vaccinations in South Asia, with coverage of basic vaccination dropping by 6 per cent from 2019 to 2020, according to World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF.
More than 5.3 million children in South Asia missed out on essential vaccines through routine immunization services in 2020 – nearly 1.9 million more than in 2019, said official data published by WHO and UNICEF on Thursday.
This is the highest number of under-vaccinated children since 2014.
Read: Reopening of schools cannot wait: UNICEF, UNESCO
Between 2019 and 2020, the South Asia region experienced a sharp decline in children receiving three doses of the diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP3) vaccine, falling from 90% to 84%.
The percentage of children covered by three doses of the diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP3) vaccine had increased steadily from 6 per cent in 1980 to a record high of 90 per cent in 2019 in South Asia.
“It is heartbreaking to see this reversal in child vaccinations due to COVID-19 in a region where tremendous progress was being made, thanks to political will and collective action,” said George Laryea-Adjei, UNICEF Regional Director for South Asia.
“Nearly 4.4 million children are not even receiving a single dose of a vaccine that can protect them from deadly diseases, which is almost twice as many as the previous year. This is a huge setback for children in South Asia, as it puts their lives at risk, and leads to unspeakable suffering.”
The majority of countries in South Asia experienced drops in childhood vaccination rates.
The rates for DTP3 reduced by 9 per cent points in Nepal; 7 per cent points in Pakistan; 6 per cent points in India; 3 per cent points in Sri Lanka and 2 per cent points in Bhutan and Afghanistan.
However, robust recovery efforts mounted in many countries towards the end of the year helped to blunt the impacts of overall declines. In India, for example, vaccination drives in remote areas are helping to reach missed children.
Globally, the data shows that just 10 countries account for 62 per cent of all under- or unvaccinated children globally. India – particularly hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic – had the highest number of unprotected children worldwide at 3.5 million, an increase of 1.4 million.
Pakistan had 1.3 million unprotected children in 2020, an increase of 0.4 million.
Concerningly, most of these children did not receive a single vaccine during the year, an indication that the most vulnerable, hard-to-reach children are paying the steepest price for pandemic-related disruptions to vaccine access.
At nearly 4.4 million, in 2020 South Asia recorded the highest number of children having failed to receive any routine vaccination in the past ten years. More than 3 million of these “zero-dose children” in 2020 lived in India.
Measles remains a concern, as well as outbreaks of diseases like diphtheria and yellow fever which can spread quickly where people are unvaccinated.
Read:Narayanganj fire: Unicef mourns death of children
In South Asia, coverage for the first dose of the measles vaccine fell from 92 per cent in 2019 to 88 per cent in 2020.
This is well below the 95 per cent recommended by WHO to protect against measles.
South Asia has had lengthy school closures, which have had significant ramifications for several vaccines such as HPV, which is critical for the achievement of cervical cancer elimination, and which is offered to children and adolescents at school.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, childhood vaccination rates against diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis, measles and polio had increased steadily for more than a decade in South Asia, as opposed to other regions in the world where coverage rates mostly stagnated.
However, with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, many health facilities and personnel were diverted to support the COVID-19 response.
In some countries, health facilities have been closed or hours reduced, while some families may have delayed seeking healthcare because of safety fears.
As the health community attempts to recover lost ground due to COVID-19 related disruptions, UNICEF, WHO and partners are supporting government efforts to strengthen immunization systems in the region by:
Restoring services so countries can safely deliver routine immunization services during the COVID-19 pandemic;
Helping health workers communicate actively with caregivers to explain the importance of vaccinations;
Rectifying coverage and immunity gaps, including identifying communities and people who have been missed during the pandemic.
Beyond disruptions to immunization, other essential healthcare services in South Asia also experienced severe disruptions in 2020.
Research commissioned by UNICEF has estimated that in 2020, 228,000 children died due to disruptions to essential healthcare services in South Asia.
Read: ILO, UNICEF record first increase in child labour in two decades
The main killers of children in South Asia are diseases such as pneumonia and diarrhea, which are both preventable and treatable when essential health services are operational, and families feel safe to use them.
“COVID-19 related disruptions are not just affecting vaccination efforts, but also other critical maternal and child health services. Today, the biggest health threat to children in South Asia is not from COVID-19, but from the childhood diseases which continue to kill children in the region,” added Laryea-Adjei.
“UNICEF calls on governments to invest in essential maternal and child health services, to ensure the most vulnerable children don't succumb to preventable diseases while COVID-19 rages on.”
Reopening of schools cannot wait: UNICEF, UNESCO
UNICEF and UNESCO have called for reopening of schools saying it has been 18 months since the COVID-19 outbreak started and education for millions of children is still disrupted.
“This should not go on. Schools should be the last to close and the first to reopen," UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore and UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay said in a joint statement on Monday.
As of today, primary and secondary schools are shuttered in 19 countries, affecting over 156 million students.
Read:Narayanganj fire: Unicef mourns death of children
Ahead of the Global Education Meeting on July 13, they urged decision makers and governments to prioritize the safe reopening of schools to avoid a generational catastrophe.
“Closing schools mortgages our future for unclear benefits to our present. We must prioritize better. We can reopen schools safely, and we must.”
“In their efforts to limit transmission, governments have too often shut down schools and kept them closed for prolonged periods, even when the epidemiological situation didn’t warrant it," said Fore and Azoulay.
These actions were frequently taken as a first recourse rather than a last measure.
In many cases, schools were closed while bars and restaurants remained open.
“The losses that children and young people will incur from not being in school may never be recouped," they said.
Read:Dhaka conveys protests to UK over human rights report
From learning loss, mental distress, exposure to violence and abuse, to missed school-based meals and vaccinations or reduced development of social skills, the consequences for children will be felt in their academic achievement and societal engagement as well as physical and mental health.
"The most affected are often children in low-resource settings who do not have access to remote learning tools, and the youngest children who are at key developmental stages," said Fore and Azoulay.
The losses for parents and caretakers are equally heavy, they said adding that keeping children at home is forcing parents around the world to leave their jobs, especially in countries with no or limited family leave policies.
“That’s why reopening schools for in-person learning cannot wait," said Fore and Azoulay.
They said it cannot wait for cases to go to zero and there is clear evidence that primary and secondary schools are not among the main drivers of transmission.
Read:Ensure reproductive health rights of all: UN chief
"Meanwhile, the risk of COVID-19 transmission in schools is manageable with appropriate mitigation strategies in most settings. The decision to open or close schools should be based on risk analysis and the epidemiological considerations in the communities where they are situated."
They said reopening schools cannot wait for all teachers and students to be vaccinated.
"With the global vaccine shortages plaguing low and middle-income countries, vaccinating frontline workers and those most at risk of severe illness and death will remain a priority. All schools should provide in-person learning as soon as possible, without barriers to access, including not mandating vaccination prior to school entry," said Fore and Azoulay.
Narayanganj fire: Unicef mourns death of children
Unicef has mourned the children who were killed in a recent factory fire in Narayanganj's Rupganj.
"We offer our deepest sympathies to the families of those who died, were injured, or remain unaccounted for," said Unicef Representative in Bangladesh Tomoo Hozumi Sunday.
With over 50 casualties reported, as many as 16 or more of these may be children, Unicef said.
Also read: Narayanganj fire: ITUC deeply concerned over 52 workers' death
"As families continue to search for their missing children, Unicef is working with the government to dispatch social workers to support children and families in Rupganj," said Hozumi.
"This tragic incident brings to light yet again that despite laws that should protect them, many children in Bangladesh are not only working, but they are working in hazardous conditions, he added.
According to the Bangladesh Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey 2019, over 4 million children are working, and more than 3 million of these children are trapped in the worst forms of child labour that involve hazardous working conditions.
Also read: Rupganj factory fire: Claimants found for 40 bodies out of 48, after 56 families submit DNA samples
"The horrific deaths and suffering, which could have been avoided, are a stark reminder that all stakeholders must act now to protect children and must enforce compliance with the Children Act 2013, as well as child labour and occupational safety laws," Hozumi said.
At least 52 people died in a fire Thursday at a factory in Narayanganj's Rupganj, the latest industrial disaster in the country.
The International Trade Union Confederation Bangladesh Council Saturday called for making the results of the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments' work on anomalies of the factory – especially the recruitment of child workers – public.
Bangladesh to get $ 940 mln ADB loans for procuring Covid vaccine
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will give USD 940 million in loans to Bangladesh for procuring safe and effective vaccines against Covid-19.
An agreement was signed on Thursday in this regard.
Read:Govt, ADB ink 250 mln loan deal to strengthen social resilience program
Economic Relations Division (ERD) secretary Fatima Yasmin and ADB Country Director Manmohan Parkash signed the loans agreement on behalf of Bangladesh and ADB respectively at a simple ceremony at the ERD in Dhaka.
The package, which comprises a regular loan and a concessional loan of $470 million each, is part of ADB’s $9 billion Asia Pacific Vaccine Access Facility (APVAX) launched in December 2020 to offer rapid and equitable vaccine-related support to ADB’s developing member countries (DMCs), according to a release from ADB.
The project will fund the purchase of an estimated 44.7 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines to be administered to more than 20 million Bangladeshis by 2024, contributing to the government’s National Deployment and Vaccination Plan for Covid-19 Vaccines.
The vaccines will be secured through the Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) program, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), or bilateral arrangements with vaccine manufacturers or distributors.
Vaccines eligible for financing must meet at least one of the APVAX eligibility criteria: the vaccine has been selected for procurement through the COVAX mechanism; the vaccine has been prequalified by the World Health Organization (WHO) or WHO emergency use listing; or the vaccine has received regular or emergency licensure or authorization by a Stringent Regulatory Authority.
Read:ADB approves $250 million loan to Dhaka to finance reforms
ADB Country Director Manmohan Parkash said that Safe and effective mass vaccination is critical for protecting lives and livelihoods, and ensuring quick socio-economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This is our single largest support for vaccine procurement till now, and ADB is committed to help the government of Bangladesh in procuring quality and affordable vaccines early.”
He also mentioned that Vaccines can reduce virus transmission and infection, and curtail mortality, contributing to saving lives and alleviating pressures on the health system.
“In addition to vaccine procurement, we are also pleased to help improve the vaccine registration, delivery, distribution, monitoring, coordination, and management systems,” Parkash said.
“The assistance follows our reoriented program priorities in supporting a quick socio-economic recovery in Bangladesh,” he added.
Read: Climate Change to get priority in Bangladesh alongside Covid support:ADB
ADB is helping the government strengthen its vaccine delivery system and fight against COVID-19 through ongoing technical assistance projects worth around $7 million.
In addition, ADB has supported Bangladesh’s Covid-19 response through a $250 million loan in June 2021 to strengthen social protection and resilience programs, a $500 million loan in May 2020 for expanding social safety nets for vulnerable groups and supporting critical labor-intensive industries and small and medium enterprises to preserve jobs, a $100 million loan in April 2020 to support procurement of equipment and supplies and upgrading of health and testing facilities, a $50 million loan for microenterprise development for creating jobs, an initial emergency grant of $350,000 for the procurement of medical supplies and equipment, and $1.3 million from an ongoing project to provide one-time cash support to trainees of an ongoing skills training program.
ILO, UNICEF record first increase in child labour in two decades
The number of children in child labour has risen to 160 million worldwide – an increase of 8.4 million children in the last four years – with millions more at risk due to the impacts of COVID-19, said the International Labour Organization (ILO) and UNICEF in a new report on Saturday.
Tuomo Poutiainen, Country Director for ILO Country Office for Bangladesh said Bangladesh must keep the fight against child labour at the top of the agenda so that progress made in recent years is not lost.
Read: Country will be free of child labour within 2025: Monnujan Sufian
"We will continue to work closely with all our partners and focus on compulsory education, skill development, and social protection programmes – not only to address child labourers and vulnerable children, but also to provide decent working opportunities for parents and older siblings. It is high time to maximise the demographic dividend of the country and strengthen measures to produce a skilled, healthy, and productive labour force,” said Poutiainen.
Children in child labour are at risk of physical and mental harm.
Child labour compromises children’s education, restricting their rights and limiting their future opportunities, and leads to vicious inter-generational cycles of poverty and child labour.
Tomoo Hozumi, UNICEF Representative in Bangladesh said with school closures in place since March 2020 and poverty levels rising amidst the pandemic, UNICEF is concerned that growing numbers of children are being pushed into child labour.
Read: Govt determined to make Bangladesh free from child labour to achieve sdgs
"Families are struggling to cope and using every available means to survive. We need to prioritize the needs of children and address the wider social issues that enable these harmful practices to continue."
Child Labour: Global estimates 2020, trends and the road forward - released ahead of World Day Against Child Labour on 12th June – warns that progress to end child labour has stalled for the first time in 20 years, reversing the previous downward trend that saw child labour fall by 94 million between 2000 and 2016.
The report points to a significant rise in the number of children aged 5 to 11 years in child labour, who now account for just over half of the total global figure.
The number of children aged 5 to 17 years in hazardous work – defined as work that is likely to harm their health, safety or morals – has risen by 6.5 million to 79 million since 2016.
“The new estimates are a wake-up call. We cannot stand by while a new generation of children is put at risk,” said ILO Director-General Guy Ryder.
“Inclusive social protection allows families to keep their children in school even in the face of economic hardship. Increased investment in rural development and decent work in agriculture is essential. We are at a pivotal moment and much depends on how we respond. This is a time for renewed commitment and energy, to turn the corner and break the cycle of poverty and child labour.”
In sub-Saharan Africa, population growth, recurrent crises, extreme poverty, and inadequate social protection measures have led to an additional 16.6 million children in child labour over the past four years.
Even in regions where there has been some headway since 2016, such as Asia and the Pacific, and Latin America and the Caribbean, COVID-19 is endangering that progress.
The report warns that globally, nine million additional children are at risk of being pushed into child labour by the end of 2022 as a result of the pandemic.
A simulation model shows this number could rise to 46 million if they don’t have access to critical social protection coverage.
Additional economic shocks and school closures caused by COVID-19 mean that children already in child labour may be working longer hours or under worsening conditions, while many more may be forced into the worst forms of child labour due to job and income losses among vulnerable families.
“We are losing ground in the fight against child labour, and the last year has not made that fight any easier,” said UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore.
“Now, well into a second year of global lockdowns, school closures, economic disruptions, and shrinking national budgets, families are forced to make heart-breaking choices. We urge governments and international development banks to prioritize investments in programmes that can get children out of the workforce and back into school, and in social protection programmes that can help families avoid making this choice in the first place.”
Other key findings in the report include:
The agriculture sector accounts for 70 per cent of children in child labour (112 million) followed by 20 per cent in services (31.4 million) and 10 per cent in industry (16.5 million).
Nearly 28 per cent of children aged 5 to 11 years and 35 per cent of children aged 12 to 14 years in child labour are out of school.
Child labour is more prevalent among boys than girls at every age. When household chores performed for at least 21 hours per week are taken into account, the gender gap in child labour narrows.
The prevalence of child labour in rural areas (14 per cent) is close to three times higher than in urban areas (5 per cent).
To reverse the upward trend in child labour, the ILO and UNICEF called for adequate social protection for all, including universal child benefits.
They called for ncreased spending on quality education and getting all children back into school - including children who were out of school before COVID-19, promotion of decent work for adults, so families don’t have to resort to children helping to generate family income and an end to harmful gender norms and discrimination that influence child labour.
Also investment in child protection systems, agricultural development, rural public services, infrastructure and livelihoods.
As part of the International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour, the global partnership Alliance 8.7, of which UNICEF and ILO are partners, is encouraging member States, business, trade unions, civil society, and regional and international organizations to redouble their efforts in the global fight against child labour by making concrete action pledges.
During a week of action from 10 – 17 June, ILO Director-General Guy Ryder and UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore will join other high-level speakers and youth advocates at a high-level event during the International Labour Conference to discuss the release of the new global estimates and the roadmap ahead.
Rohingya Crisis: Korea provides $4 mn to support 2021 JRP
South Korea has decided to provide $4 million this year to international agencies having presence in Bangladesh with a view to support the Rohingya refugees and their host communities.
The contribution will be used for the humanitarian activities of UN agencies and other international organizations to support the Rohingya refugees and their host communities in Bangladesh under the recently announced 2021 Joint Response Plan (JRP) for the Rohingya Humanitarian Crisis.
This year’s $4 million contribution has been allocated to the UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, IOM and IFRC.
An amount of $1 million had already been disbursed to IOM to assist the emergency response to the massive fire in the Cox’s Bazar refugee camp in March, said the South Korean Embassy in Dhaka on Wednesday.
Supporting the host community, addressing gender-based violence, supporting children and girls, and responding to emergencies and disaster relief are among the priority areas for Korea in its support for the Rohingya refugees and the host community.
In addition to the financial contributions, the Republic of Korea, through KOICA, has also implemented a number of humanitarian projects to support the Rohingya refugees and host communities in partnership with other international organizations and international NGOs.
Read: JRP 2021: Dhaka seeks permanent solution to Rohingya crisis
In cooperation with UNFPA, KOICA is implementing a project to support the menstrual health of women and girls in Cox’s Bazar which is worth $3 million for the period of 2021-24.
KOICA is also working with NGOs such as Adi, World Vision, and Concern Worldwide in Cox’s Bazar on various projects supporting the refugees and the host community.
As a trusted partner of Bangladesh, the Korean Government has been closely working with the international community to resolve the Rohingya refugee crisis since the outbreak in 2017.
Korea has provided the international community with around $20 million between 2017 and 2021 for Rohingya refugee-related activities in Bangladesh.
This humanitarian assistance will help protect the displaced persons and host communities.
The Republic of Korea said they will continue to work closely with the international community as well as the Bangladeshi Government to address the humanitarian crisis and search for durable solutions focused on the voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable return of the Rohingya refugees to their homes in Myanmar.
UNICEF ED calls for donating excess doses of vaccine
UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore has laid emphasis on sharing immediately available excess doses of vaccine and ultimately the global vaccination race will be won when Member States make sustainable plans to fully fund and supply the COVAX Advance Market Commitment.
"Sharing immediately available excess doses is a minimum, essential and emergency stop-gap measure, and it is needed right now," Fore said in a statement on Monday as G7 countries gear up for June summit.
She also talked about supporting the expansion of vaccine manufacturing capacity, including through proactive Intellectual Property licensing and technological transfer.
Fore said COVAX Facility – the global COVID vaccine equity scheme – will deliver its 65 millionth dose in the coming days but it should have been at least its 170 millionth.
Read: Shortage of vaccines a 'temporary' problem, follow health guidelines: President
"By the time G7 leaders gather in the UK next month, and as a deadly second wave of COVID-19 will likely continue to sweep across India and many of its South Asian neighbours, the shortfall will near 190 million doses," she said.
"We are concerned that the deadly spike in India is a precursor to what will happen if those warnings remain unheeded. While the situation in India is tragic, it is not unique. Cases are exploding and health systems are struggling in countries near – like Nepal, Sri Lanka and Maldives – and far, like Argentina and Brazil," Fore said.
The cost for children and families will be incalculable.
“The longer the virus continues to spread unchecked, the higher the risk of more deadly or contagious variants emerging," Fore said.
The clearest pathway out of this pandemic is a global, equitable distribution of vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics.
"COVAX, led by the WHO, Gavi and CEPI, with UNICEF as implementing partner, represents such a pathway. But COVAX is undersupplied," Fore said.
Among the global consequences of the situation in India, a global hub for vaccine production, is a severe reduction in vaccines available to COVAX, said the UNICEF ED.
Read: India to begin Covaxin vaccine trials for children
"Soaring domestic demand has meant that 140 million doses intended for distribution to low- and middle-income countries through the end of May cannot be accessed by COVAX. Another 50 million doses are likely to be missed in June," she said.
This, added to vaccine nationalism, limited production capacity and lack of funding, is why the roll-out of COVID vaccines is so behind schedule.
“G7 leaders will be meeting next month with a potential emergency stop-gap measure readily available," Fore said.
New data analysis provided by Airfinity, the life sciences research facility, and commissioned by the UK National Committee for UNICEF, indicates that G7 nations and ‘Team Europe’ group of European Union Member States could donate around 153 million vaccine doses if they shared just 20 per cent of their available supply over June, July and August, she said.
Critically, they could do so while still meeting their commitments to vaccinate their own populations.
“While some G7 members have greater supply than others, and some have further advanced domestic rollouts, an immediate collective commitment to pool excess supply and share the burden of responsibility could buttress vulnerable countries against becoming the next global hotspot," Fore said.
Shortfall numbers are based on delays related to shipments from the Serum Institute of India (SII) only.
Read: Bangladesh thanks China; seeks larger amount of vaccine doses
Other delays related to the original COVAX delivery schedule are expected to be made up by the end of June. There is currently no timetable to resolve SII-related delays.
The Airfinity analysis is produced using data forecasts of vaccine supplies allocated to G7 members based on doses set to be readily available.
The supply forecasts are based on existing deals between countries and manufacturers of approved vaccine candidates unless specified as included vaccine candidates currently undergoing Phase III trials.
The aggregate figure of 153 million doses represents the total of available doses if all G7 members donate 20 per cent of their available supply in June, July and August 2021, minus Novovax (due to anticipated supply limitations affecting Novovax).