UNICEF's commitment to Myanmar's children

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© UNICEF Myanmar/2004/Noorani

UNICEF has been working in Myanmar continuously since 1950. Despite difficult political and economic circumstances, UNICEF helped to successfully initiate programs to protect children against small pox, leprosy and yaws. Over time, UNICEF expanded its programs to support the development of rural health services, basic education for children, and community water supply and sanitation systems. More recently, UNICEF has supported HIV/AIDS prevention, early childhood development, and child protection programs. UNICEF also advocated for Myanmar's accession to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, which the government ratified in the 1990s.

More recently, UNICEF has supported HIV/AIDS prevention, early childhood development, and child protection programs.

Today UNICEF supports some programs (such as immunization) throughout the country, while it supports other programs (such as malaria prevention) primarily in high-risk areas of Myanmar. Wherever it can, UNICEF supports an integrated package of health, education, water supply and sanitation interventions as it now does in 61 of Myanmar's most vulnerable townships. UNICEF has field officers positioned throughout the country to enhance implementation and ensure that the assistance it provides reaches those children and women for whom it is intended.

The overriding goal of UNICEF's current program in Myanmar is to protect and further children's rights to survival, development, protection and participation. Recognizing that the wellbeing of children is closely linked to the health and wellbeing of their mothers, UNICEF also works to help women in Myanmar realize these fundamental rights.

Myanmar -Monthly Humanitarian Update Dec and Jan 2012 FINAL-UN Ocha

Want to more read:Unicef Myanmar annual report!

A country of contrasts

© UNICEF Myanmar/2004/Noorani

Myanmar is one of Southeast Asia's largest nations, with a population of more than 52 million people. With 135 different ethnic groups calling Myanmar home, it is also one of the world's most diverse countries, with a rich history and panoply of cultural and religious traditions.

Myanmar is a geographically diverse country, boasting fertile tropical deltas in the south and a rugged landscape in the Himalayan foothills of the north. The country is situated along the Bay of Bengal, and shares borders with Bangladesh, China, India, the Lao PDR and Thailand.

Approximately 70% of Myanmar's people live in the countryside, and most rural families make their living from farming. While the country is rich in natural resources, the per capita gross national income has been estimated to be only US$ 220 a year.

Long standing conflicts have exacerbated the challenges that many families face. Public sector investments and expenditures in most program areas in which UNICEF works, such as education and health, are extremely low. Myanmar also receives very little overseas development assistance (ODA). Current internal and international investment levels are not sufficient to provide all of the nation's children with an education, healthcare and other basic social services.

Because of its size and diversity, there are disparities between children living in different areas of Myanmar in terms of access to basic health services, clean water and adequate sanitation facilities, malnutrition rates, primary school enrollment and completion rates, and protective services. UNICEF works with many partners to address these disparities and to try to provide basic services to all of the country's children.