Heads of WHO and UNICEF join call for greater access to Syrian children

The UN agencies in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative sign open letter calling on all parties to the Syrian conflict to allow aid to reach children

20140123_Syria

Two children in a kindergarten Arabic class compete to answer the teacher’s question.
© UNICEF Syria/2013/Shehzad Noorani

22 January 2014 – Against the backdrop of peace talks on Syria which opened today in Switzerland, senior United Nations humanitarian officials have joined international aid organizations calling for the protection of Syrian children, 11,000 of whom have been killed and 4 million forced to flee their homes over the past three years.

“We believe the time has come to urgently focus on the plight of children,” read the open letter  signed by 15 high-ranking officials, including Anthony Lake, Executive Director of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF); and Margaret Chan Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO).

The signatories call on the parties to commit to a three-point protection plan: do not prevent live-saving aid from reaching children; do not target or allow military use of schools or health facilities; and do not use explosive weapons in populated areas.

This has particular resonance in the area of polio, where the disease re-appeared in the country after a 14-year absence. WHO and its partners need full access to all the country’s children in order to stop the disease in its tracks.

Read the open letter


Related News

   19/10/2021
For a few incredible eradicators, a life’s purpose doesn’t stop at retirement
   19/10/2021
Update on polio eradication efforts in Pakistan for September 2021
   18/10/2021
WHO and UNICEF welcome the decision by the Taliban leadership supporting the resumption of house-to-house polio vaccination across Afghanistan.
   13/10/2021
Virus isolated from Rivne province in north-west of country
   10/10/2021
The recommendation further advances nOPV2 as a critical new tool in the fight against circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2)
   29/09/2021
More often than not, the road to a meaningful triumph is a bumpy one.