Shining a light on greater investment in children

Nyamdavaa is 10 years old and feels safer having street lights near 

his home and school ©UNICEF/2014/Zetty Brake

Monday to Friday, 10 year old Nyamdavaa walks from his home to school and back again along one of the town’s dusty roads. It isn’t far, but in winter (which can last six months) it is very dark.

Proper sanitation comes to a countryside school

Khuliunaa studying in her dormitory, Tarilan village, Khuvsgul province 

© UNICEF Mongolia/2014/M. Byambaragchaa

Khaliunaa, 13, lives with her nomadic family outside Tarialan soum, Khuvsgul province, northern Mongolia. Because her family, father Buyanbadrakh, 44, mother Narangerel, 38 and sister Bulganaa, nine, are animal herders and move several times per year in search of better grazing land, she and her sister have to board at the local dormitory during the school year. If the weather is not too bad during winter they can sometimes travel to their home on the weekend and see their parents.

Ending child deaths from pneumonia

A child in rural Mongolia receiving medical care in rural Mongolia ©UNICEF/NYHQ2010-0448/Cullen 

Today is world pneumonia day. Globally pneumonia is the largest infectious killer of children under five. In 2012 pneumonia killed 1.1 million children under five, or 5,500 children every day, or one child every 15 seconds. Nearly all of these deaths occurred in developing countries.

Photo story: safe horse racing for children

Horse racing is a part of Mongolian culture and has been practiced for centuries. However, the races have changed over time and jockeys are now almost always children. Without helmets and safety gear, the risk to child jockeys of injuries or death is high.

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