17 August 2020

On the frontline for every child

Although school closures and lockdowns have helped slow the spread of COVID-19, these measures have had a massive impact on children’s lives. It has been harder for social workers to reach children and for teachers to keep their students learning and engaged, while millions of children have been left more vulnerable to violence, isolation and…, Cambodia, 柬埔寨,一名戴着外科口罩的社会工作者正在与一名妇女说话 Mai Chor, a social worker with the Ministry of Social Affairs, pays one of his clients a home visit in Battambang, Cambodia. In the last four years, his work has involved addressing domestic violence, abuse, school-dropouts and crime, mostly for underprivileged children and families. He is also educating communities on…, Ethiopia, 埃塞俄比亚,一名戴着N-95口罩的社会工作者正在与一名年轻女孩说话 Tirusew Getachew, a social worker at a quarantine centre, interviews a young girl who was deported and returned to Ethiopia amid the pandemic. Her work involves identifying and registering unaccompanied children and youth, many of whom are victims of human trafficking, deportation or have been held in captivity.…, Iceland, “My job can be very challenging at times and overwhelming, but it is also very rewarding." Hlín Sæpórsdóttir is a social worker in Reykyavik where child protection services have recorded the highest number of child abuse cases in Iceland this year.  , India, 印度的一名社会工作者穿着全套个人防护用品 Muhammad Yunus is a coordinator for the COVID-19 response in Mumbai. He works to spread awareness about the pandemic in slum settlements where communal toilets have become the main source of transmission. UNICEF has partnered with local child rights organizations for a one-of-a-kind project called "Flush the Virus: Mumbai…, Mali, 在马里,一名社会工作者手里举着宣传海报正在向孩子们讲解 Awa Yacoulyé, a nurse and social worker, leads a COVID-19 information session at a temporary shelter for children living in the street in Bamako, Mali. Opened by UNICEF and Samusocial, a social work organization, the centre supports around 600 children living in the street, who now have access to handwashing facilities…, Mauritania, 毛里塔尼亚一个呼叫中心里的一名热线工作人员 Salimata is a helpline worker who manages coronavirus cases at a response centre in Nouakchott. Operators and doctors are available over the phone free of charge, at all hours of the day and in the four national languages, as well as French. UNICEF has been supporting the Government to prevent the further spread of COVID-19…, Nigeria, 尼日利亚,一名热线工作人员正在家里打电话 Zarina Chidama, Assistant Chief Programme Officer at the National Orientation Agency (NOA), performs a contact tracing call as part of a campaign to track ‘passengers of interest’ to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in Nigeria. In the early days of the pandemic, people with a recent travel history from countries with widespread…, Pakistan, 巴基斯坦的一个呼叫中心里,一名热线工作人员正在通话中 Sadia Saleem is one of 250 agents at the ‘ Sehat Tahaffuz (health protection) 1166’ helpline centre in Islamabad. The helpline fields queries about the coronavirus and operates seven days a week from 8:00 am to midnight. Originally set up as a polio helpline supported by UNICEF and partners, the facility expanded in…, South Africa, 南非的一名热线工作人员正在家里打电话 Sibongile Zuma is on the phone at ChildLine, a non-government organization that provides free counselling for children and adults across South Africa. UNICEF supports the organization with nine call centres around the country, many of which receive calls from children who ask about the coronavirus or want to report neglect and…, Ukraine, 乌克兰的一名社会工作者正戴着口罩,手里拿着活页夹 Social worker Tetyana Stoyanova visits one of her clients in Bilokurakyne, eastern Ukraine. “Sometimes families use COVID-19 to keep us out of their homes,” she says. “They say they are afraid to get infected from us”. In Ukraine, 42,000 children, including those with disabilities, were sent back home from boarding schools…