The world body says its absolutely vital to beef up health care of children in the DRC also facing  measles, cholera, malaria and EBOLA.

The figures are alarming. 5 300 children under five years old died from the world’s worst measles outbreak in the DRC last year.

There were more than 16,5 million cases of malaria resulting in more than 7000 deaths.

Cholera sickened 31 000 Congolese children.

The EBOLA outbreak is waning – no thanks to the various rebel militia that have turned three provinces in the Eastern DRC into a war zone.

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Malam Adamu Adamu says criminalizing the parents of stay-at-home children is an effective way of forcing them to have their offspring educated.

The United Nations Children’s Fund says Nigeria has one of the highest rates of children out of school.

Two thirds of the more than ten-and-a-half million not registered for school live in northern parts of  Nigeria threatened by the Boko Haram Islamist insurgents.

In other areas, poor parents keep their children out of school to send them to work.

Only 61 percent of children between six and eleven years old are regularly in class.

Education Minister Malam Adamu Adamu says this is undermining Nigeria’s education system. 

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The conference comes weeks after President Cyril Ramaphosa told parliament his government is working to provide two years go pre-school education to better equip young South Africans for 21st centre challenges.

Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga welcomed more than 400 educationist and policy makers from a score of African, European and American countries to the Africa Play conference.

They were clearly delighted by a rousing  musical opening before going into three days of intensive workshops.

The conference is co-hosted by the Department of Basic Education, the LEGO institute, the United Nations Children’s Fund UNESCO and the Association For The Development Of Education In Africa.

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Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga says play-based learning best prepares children for 21st century opportunities.

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The conference in Pretoria will attract educationalists, policy-makers, academics and civil society from the 55 African nations.

The Basic Education Department is partnering the United Nations Childrens Fund UNICEF, the LEGO foundation and the Association for the Development of Eduction in Africa in hosting the conference.

Minister Angie Motshekga says  innovative education re-thinking it will boost learner skills, competencies,  problem solving, critical thinking and creativity enabling to pupils to cope with fast-paced modern dynamics.

(Take in the Angie Clip here)

The minister says South African education is on the cusp of greatness.

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Another case of Ebola has been confirmed in Northwest DRC brining to 35 number of cases – 18 of which have been fatal.

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World Health Organization boss Tedros Ghebreyesus says the vaccine comes from available stockpiles and will arrive in the DRC onWednesday.

Ghebreyesus ism on a two day visit to the DRC where Ebola has broken out near the border with the Republic of Congo.

The WHO chief has seen President Joseph Kabila and praised him for the speedy response to the outbreak and the cooperation with the UN children’s fund UNICEF and Medicines Sans Frontiers

The post WHO to use experimental vaccine to counter Ebola outbreak in DRC appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

It’s asking for $88 million immediately for emergency aid in violence-torn Kasai province – half of which will be spent on child nutrition.

UNICEF says 770 000 children in Kasai province are malnourished and 400 000 of them are at risk of death from hunger.

Violence in the province has forced more than a million people from their homes and displaced 4,5 million more.

The Congolese government disputes this.

It boycotted a donor conference in Geneva last month that raised only a fraction of its $1,7-billion target.

UNICEF says people are risking returning home, making it easier to access those in need of food, healthcare, safe drinking water and education. 

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Of particular concern are more than 400 000 children under five suffering acute malnutrition.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, the World Food Programme and the UN Children’s Fund UNICEF say conflict in Kasai province has caused farmers to miss three consecutive planting seasons.

750 000 people remain displaced.

620 000 returned to their burned out farms having hidden for years in the forest.

The agencies are making a public appeal for help because fewer than half a million of the 3,2 million food insecure people in Kasai have been getting help.

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UNICEF finds with some 75 per cent of these children remain in sub-Saharan Africa, and less than one in five head to Europe .

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UNICEF Regional Director Marie-Pierre Poirier says the discussion on migration needs to be broadened to cover the vulnerabilities of all children on the move.

Systems have be expanded to protect these children in all their intended destinations.

The report, which is based on a series of interviews with migrants and their families from several countries, reveals a complex set of drivers for migration including poverty, conflict, weak governance and limited institutional support capacity.

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The Juba government and the United Nations say some 100 000 people are facing starvation, with a million more on the brink of famine.

A combination of civil war and an economic collapse have been blamed.

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It’s six years since a famine has been declared. That was in was

Somalia which is once again listed – along with Yemen and north eastern Nigeria – as being on the brink of famine.

A famine is declared when the death rate exceeds two people per day of a every 10 000 in population, a third of the population suffer acute malnutrition and a fifth of households face extreme food storages

Aid agencies, including the UN World Food Programme and the children’s fund Unicef say nearly five million people – that’s more than 40% of South Sudan’s population – are in urgent need of food.

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Several officials of aid groups within the world organisation were seriously wounded.

The UN is reviewing  of the security situation in the northeast Nigeria which is a stronghold for the militants.

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The convoy came under attack traveling from Bama to Maiduguri in Borno State after delivering desperately needed humanitarian assistance.

The UN’s calling it an attack on the people who most need the assistance and aid that these workers were bringing.

UNICEF, which is one the groups assaulted works in 190 countries to promote the rights and wellbeing of every child, focusing special effort on reaching the most vulnerable and excluded children.

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