Stories related to: UNICEF

The Burmese lucky enough to survive a catastrophic cyclone now face the threat of death by disease and hunger. Dirty water and rotting corpses pose a grave danger of cholera and diarrhea, and the devastated infrastructure is making it nearly impossible to deliver food to people who were hungry even before the cyclone hit, Reuters reports. Aid agencies are scrambling to get help to survivors—and to persuade the military junta to grant them increased access. More »

A Google-funded website that uses technology to spread the word about emergencies launches today, CNET reports. The company's charitable arm has put $5 million into InSTEDD, which will use social software like Twitter and Facebook to alert humanitarian groups to crises and organize rescue operations. “Social networking in the humanitarian space, that's something you're going to see,” InSTEDD’s CEO said. More »

Conventional wisdom that puts Chelsea Clinton at the front of the class and Jenna Bush at the back is undergoing a makeover, as the current first daughter charms in public life while her predecessor hits the upper-crust party scene. The “closer I look, the more I like Jenna,” writes the New Republic ’s T.A. Frank, and “the less I like Chelsea.” More »

Infant mortality rates have dropped to new lows worldwide, according to UNICEF. Vaccination drives, education supporting breastfeeding, and anti-malarial measures helped drive last year's death rate of children under 5 down to 72 per 1,000. It stood at 93 per 1,000 in 1993. "It could be  that this is the tipping point when we now see a dramatic decline," said a UNICEF official. More »

While the president has been busy assuring Americans that Iraq is a "noble" war, among those who haven't been listening are his wife, his children and his nieces and nephews, observes Kitty Kelley, who chronicled the Bush clan in 2004. The first family is AWOL on the war effort, she points out. More »