United Nations Children’s Fund
- UNICEF provided support for a Hib vaccine trial in The Gambia, involving more than 40,000 infants. The trial’s dramatic results led to the introduction of the vaccine to the nationalimmunization program in 1997, and the virtual elimination of the disease from the country.
- UNICEF provided funding for the measles vaccination initiatives throughout southern Africa, to supplement the resources provided by the ministries of health. The number of measles cases was reduced from 60,000 in 1996 to just 117 four years later; the number of measles deaths fell from 166 to zero.
- To help China achieve their goal of eliminating iodine deficiency, UNICEF provided financial and technical assistance through the donor-funded Iodine Deficiency Control Project from 1995 to 2000. The project supported the development of technical infrastructure necessary to produce, package and distribute iodized salt throughout China. Between 1995 and 1999, total goiter rates for children aged 8 to 10 fell from 20.4 percent to 8.8 percent
- The US Fund for UNICEF has provided financial assistance to support the face washing and environmental change components of Morocco’s SAFE strategy to control trachoma. Since 1997, the incidence of trachoma in Morocco has been cut by more than 90% among children aged 10.
- UNICEF supported Egypt’s National Control of Diarrheal Disease Project through a donation of raw materials for oral rehydration salt production. Infant diarrheal deaths were reduced by 82 percent between 1982 and 1987, and the program contributed to the prevention of 300,000 child diarrheal deaths between 1982 and 1989.
- Through their participation in the Inter-Agency Coordinating Committee, UNICEF contributed financial support to the regional initiative that eradicated polio in Latin America in 1991. The Committee played a crucial role in maintaining political and social will for the initiative.
- UNICEF has collaborated with other donors in the global effort to eradicate guinea worm in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, and has provided sizable financial support for the construction of safe water sources. Since the start of the campaign in 1986, disease prevalence has dropped 99 percent and the number of cases has fallen from 3.5 million to less than 35,000.
- UNICEF played a modest role in the global smallpox eradication program through the donation of vaccines and vaccine production equipment. Smallpox was eradicated in 1977.
