A press conference was given yesterday by Hong Kong Committee for UNICEF Ambassadors and Ms. Charlie Young and Ms. Gigi Leung on their return from their field trip at the Kempinski Hotel Beijing Lufthansa Center.

In Guizhou's Congjiang County, Charlie Young was moved when she met a severely malnourished five-year old girl who has little opportunity to eat eggs in her daily meals. Yuanyuan (not her real name) had been living with her auntie since her parents divorced and there was never enough money to buy the eggs that she adored. Charlie brought the family eggs and cooked one for Yuanyuan: "Eggs are such a common food in Hong Kong, but they brought a joyful smile to Yuanyuan that makes all the hardships of our journey worthwhile", she said.

In Guizhou Province, the two Ambassadors visited a UNICEF pilot project with the Chinese Government to improve the health and nutrition of mothers The "mother and baby package"  combines a series of high-impact and cost-effective maternal and child health interventions aimed at reducing maternal and child mortality and improving development.
 
Guizhou is one of China's poorest provinces with a population of over 30 million and maternal and infant mortality rates which are higher than the national average rate. Undernutrition rates are equally high and children are frequently much smaller than their ages would suggest. UNICEF has been working with the Maternal and Child Health and Community Health Department of the Ministry of Health on developing a mother and child package of interventions in 50 counties in 13 provinces. The aim is to test and further develop the package for scaling-up in order to achieve a substantial reduction in Maternal and Child mortality.

Xiao Gang (not his real name) is a 15-year old boy who looks more like nine. He spends most of his time by himself at home.  When Gigi Leung took him a football to play with, his whole manner brightened; "Coming from Hong Kong it's hard to imagine the situation of children in the poor areas of Guizhou we have visited. They look so small for their age and migration has meant that there are many single-parent families who can neither afford proper nutrition nor medical care for their children", she said, "and that's why these UNICEF projects are so vitally important".

The two Ambassadors spent four days in the field, seeing at first hand how project activities directly benefit mothers and their babies. Obstetric care and neonatal and safe delivery, care for sick children and the monitoring and promotion of child growth and development are all included in the project. Training is also provided on parenting and child injury prevention in the home, while wider access is promoted to essential commodities such as nutrition supplements and iodized salt.

The field visit to Guizhou was filmed for the purpose of raising both awareness and funding for the Hong Kong Committee for UNICEF which has raised US$10 million for UNICEF in China over the past five years alone.

(China.org.cn April 15, 2006)