I love companies with a social conscience. Apparently Pampers (and its manufacturers Procter and Gamble) is one of them. Together with UNICEF, Pampers is running the 1 Pack = 1 Vaccine program. Every pack of specially marked diapers and wipes sold translates to 1 tetanus vaccine donated to the UNICEF. The program has been running for tow years now and has provided more than 40 million vaccines for UNICEF to be used all over the world, most especially in impoverished areas.

Of all vaccines, tetanus was chosen because newborn tetanus is a major health problem in low- and middle income countries, and causes more than 140,000 deaths each year. A woman who receives the vaccine during pregnancy actually passes the protection against tetanus to her newborn, making the disease preventable.

The vaccine program is an ongoing worldwide campaign but it is not the only charity work in which Pampers is involved.

Even here in Europe, Pampers is actively campaigning for the program as I saw at the supermarket the other day. What a shame that they started the campaign long after my children were potty-trained. With my twins’ consumption of diapers, we could have provided a couple hundred more vaccines.

Of course we already know that, but it helps to be reminded from time to time. According to reports, Salma Hayek enjoys breastfeeding so much she breastfed a hungry child when she made a visit to Sierra Leone. The mother could not produce breast milk, and the actress stepped in to help. Her trip to Sierra Leone was part of a fact finding mission for UNICEF.

Hayek was quoted online saying that she enjoyed breastfeeding her daughter Valentina so much she was “like an alcoholic.” She appeared on NBC’s Today show to talk about the experience. “It’s about women sticking together and we really need to help the children in any way we can,” she said.

As part of her work for UNICEF, Hayek is trying to encourage more women breastfeed their babies as a way to strengthen their immune systems. Addressing the issue, Hayek said, “It is the best thing you can do for your child, not only the bonding, that’s how you build the immune system, so in a country like Africa imagine how important it is for the mothers to do that.”

Then she spoke on one aspect of caring for a baby that is probably an area of concern for many parents. “…there is the belief that if you are breastfeeding you cannot have a sexual life, so the husbands of these women are really encouraging them to stop…,” she said. It is a well known fact that having a young baby can sometimes lead to problems with intimacy, and this is something that many couples have struggled with. I do find it surprising though that the husbands Hayek spoke of would try to discourage their wives from breastfeeding. This is especially surprising, since in many third world countries breastfeeding is actually used as a form of birth control.

I certainly hope that Hayek’s efforts and the work of UNICEF in Africa and indeed worldwide will yield results. I think there is enough evidence to support the idea that breastfeeding is the best thing for a baby, as long as the mother is able to. Many people including myself would not think this would be an issue in Africa, but more likely in more developed nations where new mothers often have careers or other concerns. In fact, in many African countries and others with primarily people of African descent, breastfeeding is the norm rather than the exception. However, times are changing and so women everywhere may well be moving away from breastfeeding exclusively during the first few months of their babies’ lives.

I applaud Hayek for helping this baby in need. I hope that some suitable alternative was found to help the mother to feed her child. There were no further details available in the online stories on the issue.
Hayek’s daughter, Valentina was born in September 2007. Her father is Francois-Henri Pinault, CEO of the French company, PPR.

The UNICEF annual report on The State of the World’s Children 2009 is not exactly a harbinger of good news especially concerning teen pregnancies and births. Some figures from the report are as follows:

• 70,000 women aged 15 to 19 die as a consequence of pregnancy and delivery complications.
• The younger a girl during pregnancy, the greater are the health risks for her and her baby.
• An infant born to a mother under 18 has a 60% greater risk of dying before its first birthday.

Although the most publicized teen pregnancies are those happening in developed countries (think about Jamie Lynn Spears and Bristol Palin), the majority of teen mothers are actually living in developing countries – unnoticed and unsung. The practice of child marriages is still quite commonplace in many parts of Asia and Africa. The girls forced into these marriages lose their chance for an education or simply to enjoy their childhood.

This is sad because pregnancy and childbirth is hard enough in low-income countries (especially Africa) without being confounded by young age.

In Africa, a woman has 1 in 26 chance of dying of pregnancy or childbirth complications – the highest in the world. This is 300 times higher than in developed countries.

I had my twins at age 38. In developing countries, many women will already be grandmothers at that age. These UNICEF figures make me pause and ponder upon the disparities of this world. “There, but for fortune, go you or I.”

In a series of “report cards” prepared by the UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre, the UN agency compares the performance of OECD countries on children’s issues. The Innocenti Report Card 7 (2007) is on Child poverty in perspective: An overview of child well-being in rich countries. Of the 21 countries compared, European countries topped the list (Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark) of overall child well-being, whereas the United States and the United Kingdom occupied the last two places at the bottom of the table.

The report card is based on 6 dimensions, namely:

• Material well-being
• Health and safety
• Educational well-being
• Family and peer relationships
• Behavior and risks
• Subjective well-being

I won’t go much into detail about the different dimensions, but suffice it to say that some rich countries seem to lack the infrastructure to ensure children’s well-being. The US and the UK, for example, had very low scores on material well-being (poverty), health and safety, relationships, and risk behaviors but fared slightly better in the educational dimension.

The poverty trend based on the recent data and from previous report cards can be summarized as:

• Child poverty is increasing in 17 out of 24 OECD countries surveyed. Norway is the only country where child poverty is falling.
• It’s not GDP but differing government policies that account for the differences in the ranking. For example, higher government spending on family and social benefits is linked to lower poverty rates.

The report includes a lot of statistics that might be interesting to parents, educators, and policy makers. It includes data on infant mortality, teenage pregnancies, and crime against children. It doesn’t, however, include data on early childhood care and education, which is tackled in Report Card 8 (2008).

Our daughter’s 14 months old. We’ve been on the fence on whether she’ll get much out of a trick or treating experience this year. She was pretty much oblivious to the holidays last year so we were excited about this year. However, we were still unsure whether taking her trick or treating would be worth it. Most significantly, we wondered what we’d do with all that candy.

Well there’s an alternative way to go trick or treating this year now, and all for a good cause. UNICEF’s Trick or Treat drive is encouraging kids to collect money instead of sweets and candies in their special box, then send the collection in as part of UNICEF’s effort to encourage giving back to less fortunate kids worldwide. It may seem like a bummer to some kids, but it’s a great way to expose kids to humanitarian/charitable causes, encourage selflessness, and avoid a visit to the dentist!

The younger ones like my daughter’s age won’t mind, and if you appeal to the older kids, I’m sure they’re generosity will kick in. Challenge your kids, why not?