Hand washing: Keeping Mongolia’s children healthy

Children washing their hands in rural Mongolia
©UNICEF/MGLA2007-00194/Holmes  

Today is Global Hand Washing Day. Hand washing is one of the most effective ways to save children’s lives. Each year, 1.7 million children under the age of five die from diarrhoea and pneumonia. Washing hands with soap and water, especially after using the toilet and before handling food, helps reduce disease infections by up to 40 per cent, and has far reaching effects on the health and welfare of children and their communities.

Ending violence against girls

If we are to end violence against girls, we much 

change attitudes towards this issue

©UNICEF/Mongolia

Today is international day of the girl child. In 2011, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution declaring October 11^th as the International Day of the Girl Child, drawing attention to girls’ rights and the unique challenges that girls around the world face.

Photos: Inclusive education for all children

Created with flickr slideshow.

Less than half of children with disabilities in Mongolia go to school, partly because of stigma and discrimination. UNICEF is working with the Government and others to make sure all children, including those with disabilities, get a quality education. 

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Breast is best: how Uran-Erdene got the best start in life

Uran-Erdene is a healthy and joyful 11-month year old girl. With her two little ponytails and chubby cheeks, she bounces back and forth between her parents laps. She is the youngest of three girls and, according to her mother Sarantugs, she is also the healthiest. Sarantugs believes this is because she exclusively breastfed Uran-Erdene for six months after birth. 

Uran-Erdene's happy when breastfeeding
@UNICEF Mongolia/2014/Ariunzaya Davaa

“I was only 22 when I had my first child,” Sarantugs says. “I was inexperienced and believed the TV adverts about infant formula, so I fed her breast milk substitute almost immediately after birth. At the time, she looked chubby and seemed healthy, so I thought I was doing the right thing. Now I know that infant formula cannot replace breast milk.”

Writing a bright future: Literacy rates in Mongolia

Children raise their hands during class at school in Khuvsgul, northern Mongolia 

© UNICEF/NYHQ2012-1786/Sokol

Earlier this month was International Literacy Day. Mongolian literacy rates are, for adults over 97 per cent, youth (15-24) male above 94 per cent and female youths over 97 percent. These rates are higher than the global literacy rates, which sit at 84.3 per cent, 92.1 per cent and 86.9 per cent respectively.

Fathers’ cooking healthy meals for their kids

Erdenebat scoops micronutrient enriched soup into a bowl
© UNICEF Mongolia/2014/Byambaragchaa Magvandorj

Erdenebat, 26 years old, is bent over a stove, carefully stirring the micronutrient enriched thickened rice soup that he has cooked from scratch. After he finishes cooking, Erdenebat turns to the five other fathers in the room and tells them about the nutritional value of the dish. 

UNICEF Representative on Jargal DeFacto

UNICEF Mongolia Representative Mohamed M Fall was interviewed on NTV's Jargal DeFacto show. He discussed the situation of children in Mongolia and issues ranging from breastfeeding to child mortality.

Nandia gives her baby the best start in life

M.Bulgansor is happily playing on her mother’s lap.  As she giggles her mother, D.Nandintsetseg (Nandia), 19, looks down at her beautiful daughter and smiles. 

Bulgansor is a happy and healthy 7 month old baby girl. She has never been sick and is getting bigger every day.  Her mother, university student Nandia, is convinced that her baby is so healthy because for the first six months of her life she only fed her breast milk.

Prior to giving birth Nandia received regular antenatal care at the Delgermurun Family Clinic in Murun, Khuvsgul.  She attended a range of training sessions for expectant mothers, including one supported by UNICEF on infant and young child feeding.  At this training, Nandia learnt the importance of exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of a child’s life and made the decision take a year off from her university studies to exclusively breastfeed.  

Photos: Water and sanitation for schools

Children from remote areas outside Tarialan soum, Khuvsgul province, describe the challenges of spending the winter at boarding school. UNICEF is upgrading the water, sanitation and hygiene facilities at the main school and dormitory, under an AusAID-funded project.

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“I want to be a teacher”: creating a Child Friendly Community in Nalaikh

Sambuu with his daughters and granddaughter
© UNICEF Mongolia/2013/Andy Brown

Ten-year-old Sarantugs lives with her parents and ten siblings in Nalaikh, a remote district of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. She will be enrolling in fourth grade in September, and is one of few children in the family who can attend school. Her father Sambuu, 59, used to work as a plumber in the local governor’s office but he had a stroke and had to leave his job. He is counting the days until his sixtieth birthday, when he will be able to claim a pension.

Nalaikh is an industrial district that was established around a coal mine that supplies Ulaanbaatar. It has a mixed-ethnic community including Mongolians and Kazakhs. Sambuu has nine children plus grandchildren, some of whom are disabled. They are registered as a poor family and receive food stamps plus financial assistance of 10,000 tugriks per adult and 5,000 per child.