Helping Children in KosovoWeekly update [remark: Only text concerning Kosovo is given]
8 October 1999More than 810,000 people have returned to Kosovo after residing in camps or with host families in Albania, the Former Yugoslavia Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro (Yugoslavia), Bosnia and Herzegovina and other countries during the air strikes. A recent assessment, undertaken in 450 villages affected by the conflict, showed that 50,000 homes were destroyed or inhabitable.
Approximately 130,000 people have left Kosovo for the Yugoslav provinces of Serbia and Montenegro since the end of the air strikes.
UNICEF continues to support education, health, mine awareness-raising and psychosocial activities in Kosovo, Albania, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro.Education
On September 1, an estimated 150,000 children began catch-up classes. In order to increase the number of children who can start such classes, UNICEF is distributing school furniture, materials and supplies, stoves and winterized tents for delivery to schools. The new school year will begin on October 25.
An assessment by UNICEF and NGOs of 783 school buildings in Kosovo found 45 per cent of them totally destroyed, severely damaged or damaged. Water supply and electricity are lacking in many schools; latrines are lacking or in poor condition. Schools are in urgent need of stoves and fuel for winter, as well as school furniture.
(...)Health
Child immunization schedules were disrupted in the past months, and UNICEF has distributed a six-month vaccine supply for children under 5 who need to catch up on their shots. The campaign began mid-September, with mobile teams immunizing children against tuberculosis, polio, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, measles, mumps and rubella. Some 360,000 children will be vaccinated, or have their vaccination cards updated. A separate campaign is planned to immunize 30,000 children between the ages of 1 and 2 against measles.
UNICEF is supplying health centres with emergency medical supplies, essential drugs, oral rehydration salts, and hygiene items for babies and women, and other items.
(...)Mine awareness
On average, every day five people are killed or injured in Kosovo because of accidents caused by mines and other unexploded ordnance. Children below the age of 14 account for 30 per cent of the injuries; young people between the ages of 15 and 24 for another 41 per cent. UNICEF is the lead agency in all mine-awareness activities, both in Kosovo and among refugees and internally displaced persons living in FYR Macedonia, Albania and Montenegro (Yugoslavia). UNICEF has distributed more than 300,000 posters and leaflets in Kosovo warning of the dangers of landmines, unexploded ordnance and booby-traps, and is planning distribution of 300,000 copies of the Superman comic book, in which the DC Comics character encounters landmines and explains how readers and others can keep themselves safe. Mine awareness is being taught in schools and incorporated into school curriculum. UNICEF continues to support teacher training in this effort; a series of 50 workshops is expected to reach some 1,500 teachers with mine-awareness training. UNICEF is also funding child-to-child mine awareness training.
(...)Psychosocial programmes
UNICEF is carrying out an assessment to determinate the level of stress and anxiety among children. The survey will give an indication of how the number of children suffering form post-traumatic stress, and what kind of experiences children were exposed to during the war.
UNICEF supports nine day-care centres run by NGOs and other groups in Kosovo; one such centre is for Roma children who have been displaced in the conflict. To date, UNICEF has provided toys, cushions and high-energy protein biscuits for about 1,500 children in the centres.
UNICEF supports Social Welfare Centers throughout Kosovo to strengthen the assistance to socially vulnerable children, including children living with foster families.
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