Founded in 1946, UNICEF, the United Nations
Children’s Fund, is mandated by the United Nations General
Assembly to advocate for the protection of children’s rights, to
help meet their basic needs and to expand their opportunities to
reach their full potential.
UNICEF is guided by the Convention on the
Rights of the Child and strives to establish children’s rights
as enduring ethical principles and international standards of
behaviour towards children.
UNICEF’s main function is to mobilise
political will and material resources to help countries,
particularly developing countries, ensure "first call for
children" and to build their capacity to form appropriate
policies and deliver services for children and their families.
UNICEF gives high priority to country
programme operations. At country level, UNICEF works with other
UN agencies, governments and civil society organisations to
lighten children’s loads through support to community-based
services in primary health care, basic education, and safe water
and sanitation. For over a decade, as part of its mandate to
promote child survival, UNICEF has advocated, mobilised
resources and built capacity in government systems and
communities to ensure that children receive basic immunization
services. UNICEF, the world’s largest purchaser of vaccines for
developing countries, is a key partner in global immunization
efforts.
UNICEF, with world headquarters in New
York and Geneva, maintains programmes in 161 countries, with 86
per cent of its staff posts located in the field. Its Supply
Division, based in Copenhagen, is responsible for global
purchasing, including some $100 million per year spent on
vaccines and safe injection equipment.
The 37 National Committees for UNICEF (http://web.archive.org/web/20001208234900/http://www.unicef.org/uwwide/natcoms.htm)
mostly in the industrialized world, are nongovernmental
organizations that support UNICEF in advocacy for children and
fundraising.
UNICEF’s role in GAVI
In the 1980s, UNICEF was a major force
behind the drive for Universal Child Immunisation, which saw 80
per cent of the world’s children immunized against the six
vaccine-preventable diseases. Throughout the 1990s, UNICEF’s
work in immunization was guided by the commitments made at the
1990 World Summit for Children and the principles of the
Convention for the Rights of the Child. Through its long
experience, UNICEF has gained expertise and skills in ensuring
that immunization is on the political agenda of governments; in
helping communities and families to understand the importance of
preventive health and immunization, in particular; and in
vaccine procurement.
UNICEF is a partner in the Global Alliance
for Vaccines and Immunization. Ms. Carol Bellamy, Executive
Director of UNICEF, is an ex-officio member of the GAVI Board.
Ms. Bellamy will chair the GAVI Board for a two-year term
starting in late 2001. UNICEF chairs the GAVI Task Force on
Advocacy, which is responsible for coordinating global advocacy
and communications efforts of the GAVI partners. UNICEF also
manages the GAVI Trust Fund, which disperses collective funds
for activities approved by the GAVI Board.
For more information about UNICEF or
immunization, visit
http://web.archive.org/web/20001208234900/http://www.unicef.org/