Ann Veneman
Ann Veneman
Ann Margaret Venemanwas the Executive Director of UNICEF from 2005 to 2010. Her appointment was announced on January 18, 2005 by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Previously, Veneman was the United States Secretary of Agriculture, the first and only woman to hold that position. Veneman served as USDA Secretary from January 20, 2001 to January 20, 2005, leaving to become the fifth executive director of UNICEF. She served in this position from May 1, 2005. A lawyer by training, Veneman has...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPublic Servant
Date of Birth29 June 1949
CountryUnited States of America
Most housing has been destroyed in the hardest-hit areas, so the survival of thousands of young children is now at stake.
It is critical that the world unite for children and unite against AIDS. The size of the problem is staggering, but the scale of the response has been inadequate.
So it's very important that we have an education program for families about how to protect children if they have sick birds around their homes.
Meeting the Millennium Development Goals depends on reaching vulnerable children throughout the developing world.
We must be prepared for a worsening drought. Children are especially vulnerable to malnutrition and disease and the burden on already over-stretched health, nutrition and water services will be even greater.
With wintry conditions arriving in the higher elevations, children are facing a potentially deadly combination of cold, malnutrition, and disease,
To ensure that children are protected, the abuse and exploitation of children must be brought to light and those who violate children brought to justice.
Few things have more impact than nutrition on a child's ability to survive, learn effectively and escape a life of poverty.
We know that children under 18 are about half of the population in the affected areas. And therefore we think that about half of the victims, either injured or the dead, have been children.
Almost one in three children in Zimbabwe, 1,6-million, are now orphaned, having lost at least one parent, and this number is growing. HIV and Aids have dramatically increased children's vulnerability in recent years.
Unsafe water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene habits play a major role in child mortality. Bringing basic services to Africa's women and girls could transform their lives and boost child survival in the region.
It is important to protect children from being recruited and used in armed conflict.
There are still too few helicopters to reach more than 1,000 remote villages with lifesaving supplies that children urgently need.
Children are forced into prostitution, begging and soliciting, labor on plantations and in mines, markets, factories and domestic work.