Nishat dedicated her climb to Plan's girls' campaign.

19 May 2012: Nishat Majumder today made history as she became the first Bangladeshi woman to reach the top of Mount Everest, taming all 8,848 metres (29,028 feet) of the world’s highest mountain.

Flying the flag for Plan’s Because I am a Girl campaign, the 31-year-old accountant was joined on the climb by Bangladeshi mountaineer MA Mohit.

Although an experienced mountaineer in her own right, the climb up Everest was Nishat’s biggest challenge to date. Nishat had to train hard for the expedition and so dedicating it to Plan’s girls campaign seemed like an obvious choice.

“Taking on this challenge as a woman, I realised just how important it is for girls to be empowered. Plan’s Because I am a Girl campaign is all about having a voice and being strong, so I wanted to do this to show girls around the world that nothing is impossible,” said Nishat before the climb.

Journey of a lifetime

The journey began on 9 April and some favourable weather conditions helped the dynamic duo reach Base Camp on 15 April.

On 20 April, Mohit said in a message from a satellite phone that they were preparing to make their first push to Camp 1 (of 4) and then return to Base Camp, all part of the acclimatisation routine climbers must go through before they reach the top.

At 4 am on 22 April, the pair made it to Camp 1 for the first time and arrived back at Base Camp in the afternoon. This trip was then repeated over the next couple of days.

On 26 April, Mohit, who by this time had caught a cold, phoned in from Camp 1 to say the climbers were gearing up for their first trek to Camp 2, which they reached on 27 April before returning to Base Camp once more.

On Wednesday, Mohit told Plan that he and Nishat had reached Camp 3, at an altitude of 7,300 metres (23,950 feet), and that they were about to climb North Col before the final push to the summit, which they reached today.

Girl power

“What a feat this is!" said Deepali Sood, director of the Because I am a Girl campaign.

"Many congratulations to Nishat who, as the first Bangladeshi woman, has conquered a typically male dominated terrain and I am delighted that she has done this for Plan’s campaign. The message of the campaign reinforces Nishat’s determination and success: unleash the power of girls and women and watch them soar,” she added.

Plan’s Because I am a Girl campaign to fight gender inequality and promote girls' rights will be officially launched around the world on the International Day of the Girl Child on 11 October.

For more information please contact:

Plan Bangladesh Communications Specialist Nova Shams
Email: nova.shams@plan-international.org

Asia is the most disaster-prone continent on earth.

2 May 2012: Often seen as nothing more than victims in disasters, children in Asia actually have a vital role to play in community disaster risk reduction activities, according to a new "child-friendly" climate change report launched this week in Asia.

The 28-page report, called Climate Extreme: How young people can respond to disasters in a changing world, gives children in the developing world knowledge about how to prepare and reduce risks they could face when disasters impact their communities.

Presenting examples of crucial roles children have played in disaster preparedness, community education, hazard identification and in evacuation and first aid during disasters, the learning tool is a more digestible version of the 594-page of Special Report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation (SREX), produced by a panel of climate experts.

“Children and young people have the right to information that is tailored to them. Even complex scientific reports should be converted to child and youth appropriate versions, if the information is likely to affect them,” said Amalia Fawcett, the author of the youth-friendly version and Plan Australia’s senior child rights specialist.

Taking the lead

There are many examples of girls and boys becoming actively involved in disaster risk reduction activates. Young people have lobbied their governments to get schools moved out of the path of potential landslides in the Philippines. Girls and boys in Bangladesh have carried out household visits and community assemblies to share their skills and knowledge on early warning and household preparedness with others.

A school safety program in India involves children in conducting risk and vulnerability assessments in more than 2,000 schools, while in Thailand youths are actively engaged in revising community based disaster risk management plans in flood affected areas.

“Children are so often referred to as ‘future decision makers’ at best and ‘victims of disasters’ at worst. While we must be sure they are appropriately supported and protected during disasters, part of that should be to recognise their role in the present, rather than continually looking solely at their future potential. Children and young people can make a difference now; they are not just the future, but the present as well,” added Fawcett.

Along with the IPCC report, Climate Extreme launches in New Delhi on May 3 and Bangkok on May 4.

Read the full report here.

Children are at the heart of everything we do.

2 May 2012: This week, Plan Nepal celebrates 35 years of supporting disadvantaged Nepali children with a series of events in each of the 15 districts Plan operates in. A walkathon, blood donation drive and birth registration camp are just a few of the activities that have been organised.

"Plan Nepal has been successful in improving the lives of thousands of Nepalese children and has contributed to achieving the community development targets set by communities and the government,” said Donal Keane, country director of Plan Nepal.

“We are grateful for the support extended to us by children, communities, the government, non-governmental agencies and other stakeholders. We will continue our efforts to reach the most marginalized of children and, as much as possible, to help lift them out of poverty, working together with all the actors engaged in this endeavour."

Plan Nepal works in partnership with children and their families and communities as well as community- based organizations and government at all levels in order to bring about positive changes in the lives of children. Plan also supports the government in implementing programmes it has embraced for improving the wellbeing of children and women.

Making an impact

As a result of Plan’s efforts in its programme areas, hundreds of families in Nepal have been part of sustainable community development initiatives, leading to improvements in sanitation and hygiene; a large number of children being able to continue their studies; and women's and children’s participation in various activities increasing.

Participants in Plan’s capacity-building programmes are now more able to make decisions about issues that affect their lives – they have the knowledge and skills they need to shape their own future as they see fit.

Plan began work in Nepal in the village of Sitapaila in capital Kathmandu and has gone on to implement child-centred community development programmes tackling issues like health, basic education, household economic security, child protection and disaster risk reduction. Programmes are funded by grants from various donors and by sponsorships of citizens of developed countries.

Children hide under their desks during an earthquake simulation in Central Java in 2010.

12 April, 2012: Plan Indonesia has sent a small Emergency Response Team to Aceh province, West Sumatra, to assess the situation on the ground a day after a series of earthquakes off the coast of northern Indonesia rocked the region, causing widespread panic.

Slated to arrive in Aceh this afternoon, the team of experts will see if there is a need for Plan to respond in any way, such as with the provision of non-food items for affected children and their families.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono delivered a statement saying that the situation in Aceh is generally under control and being handled by the government, so Plan's assessment team will focus on the vulnerable regencies of Simeulue, Meulaboh and Lhokseumawe.

“In situations like this, children, especially from marginalised groups, are the most vulnerable and we are concerned that their wellbeing may have been affected by the earthquake yesterday,” said Nono Sumarsono, Plan Indonesia’s acting country director.

“In principle, we are ready to provide humanitarian assistance there after yesterday’s quake in Sumatra. Our priority is to ensure that the basic needs of children can still be met,” he added.

Haunting memories

Measuring 8.5 on the Richter scale, the quake was felt throughout the region and as far away as parts of Africa. For many, the earthquake brought back painful memories of the Boxing Day Tsunami in 2004, which caused the deaths of more than 180,000 people, 130,000 of them in Indonesia.

Indonesia reported no immediate casualties and damage this time around, though state television showed images of citizens visibly panicked by the events.

Plan’s Emergency Response Team will work in Aceh for 4-5 days and maintain contact with the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, as well as the Indonesian National Board for Disaster Management and local organisations.

Yesterday's quake was followed by an 8.2-magnitude aftershock 2 hours later, as well as a number of other aftershocks.

A stroke of luck

A tsunami warning -- issued after the first quake and reissued after the large aftershock -- was put in place, but despite the massive size of the tremors, there was no severe tsunami due to the nature of the quake, experts said.

A horizontal shift of the seabed at the Indo-Australian plate was large enough to cause the quakes, but as happened in 2004, it would have taken a vertical movement between the boundaries of 2 plates to displace the sort of level of water that could cause a major tsunami.

Indonesia lies on the volatile Pacific Ring of Fire, an area of seismic activity where most of the world’s earthquakes happen. Asia is the world’s most disaster-prone continent as well as being home to some of its poorest populations.

Natural disasters disproportionately affect the poor and one of Plan’s goals (PDF) is to ensure children grow up safely in resilient communities, with their rights respected and their wellbeing protected during emergencies.

Plan Indonesia has responded to numerous disasters in Indonesia before, including the Boxing Day Tsunami, the 2009 earthquake and the eruption of Mount Merapi in Java in 2010. A 21-member Emergency Response Team is on standby in the country at all times, ready to be deployed at any time if needed.

For more information contact Vanda Lengkong, disaster risk management programme manager for Plan Indonesia, on Vanda,Lengkong@plan-international.org

Nishat's journey should take about 2 months.

28 March 2012: Nishat Majumder will fly the flag for Plan’s Because I am a Girl campaign as she attempts to go into the record books with her bid to become the first Bangladeshi woman to scale Mount Everest. The 31-year-old accountant, who will be joined on the climb by veteran Bangladeshi mountaineer MA Mohit, is set to begin her 2-month adventure on April 9.

With a solid resume of expeditions already under her belt, Nishat’s latest challenge will be her biggest test yet as she tries to tame all 8,848 metres of the world’s highest mountain. Nishat has been training hard and with her eyes set firmly on the top, dedicating the climb to Plan’s gender-focussed campaign seemed like an obvious choice.

“Taking on this challenge as a woman, I realised just how important it is for girls to be empowered. Plan’s Because I am a Girl campaign is all about having a voice and being strong, so I wanted to do this to show girls around the world that nothing is impossible,” says Nishat.

The long, steep road

It was 2003 when Nishat first discovered her passion for hiking up mountains and since then she’s been no stranger to overcoming the odds, having already been crowned the first Bangladeshi woman to conquer three Himalayan peaks higher than 6,000 metres.

The journey to become the first Bangladeshi woman to beat Everest has some stiff competition, though, as another Bangladeshi lady -- social activist Wasfia Nazreen -- has already began an attempt. But none of that will be on Nishat’s mind as she begins her own test of endurance -- and if 2 Bangladeshi women make it to the top one after the other, the impact will be even stronger.

Also up for the challenge is Nishat’s climbing partner, Mohit, a bit of a legend himself as the only Bangladeshi to make it to the top of to the top of Everest, Manaslu and Cho-Oyu, 3 summits higher than 8,000 metres.

In April 2010, Lynette Trott, a sponsor from Plan Australia, attempted to climb Everest with a Because I am a Girl flag. Unfortunately she was only 400 metres from the peak when she experienced health issues and was forced to return to Base Camp.

Plan’s Because I am a Girl campaign will be officially launched around the world on the International Day of the Girl Child on 11 October. Through the campaign, Plan works in developing countries to equip, enable and empower girls of all ages to acquire the assets, skills and knowledge necessary to succeed in life.

To get the scoop and all the latest news about Nishat's journey to the top of the world, follow the hashtag #NishatClimbs on Twitter.

Find out more about the Because I am a Girl campaign.

Only 30% of children in Timor-Leste have birth certificates.

March 2012: Children from Timor-Leste took part in a global birthday party to celebrate Plan’s 75 years of work promoting child rights across 50 developing countries on 20 March, 2012. While there was plenty of singing, dancing, playing and sweets, the celebration also carried a serious message on the importance of birth registration.

Many children around the globe, including in Timor-Leste, cannot celebrate their birthdays because they do not know when they were born and they do not have a birth certificate.

Missing out

According to the country’s 2010 Population and Housing Census, only around 30% of children under the age of 5 have official birth certificates from the Timorese government. Without birth certificates, children can be denied their rights to crucial services such as education and healthcare and can be more vulnerable to trafficking, labour exploitation or abuse.

Plan Timor-Leste joined in the worldwide anniversary celebrations and vowed to continue to highlight the importance of birth registration for children in the country through the “Count Every Child” campaign to provide children all over the world with birth certificates.

National Child Rights Commissioner Adalgisa Ximenes attended the celebrations in Plan’s Dili office and signed the online petition to call on the United Nations to make birth registration a global priority.

“I encourage Plan to continue your programmes in Timor-Leste, because our children still need your support, especially on the birth registration campaign. Timor-Leste has already begun the process of registering births, but we still need to work together to raise community awareness about the importance of birth registration,” she said.

The rocky road

Some of the barriers to birth registration faced by Timor-Leste families can be seen in the communities where Plan works. Bad roads and weather can limit travel to the district centres where registration offices are located. For subsistence farmers, time spent travelling also means time away from work.

At one Plan Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) playgroup in Fatulumau village, Aileu, 15 children hadn’t had their births registered – more than half the group.

“These children haven’t got a birth certificate because their parents are unaware of the importance of birth registration and are busy with their work. Additionally, they also face transportation issues, because the registration office is not in their own village but in the main district centre,” ECCD volunteer facilitator Elias said.

Find out more about birth registration in Timor-Leste.

Jo and Kobkit from Chiang Rai are taking part in the panel talk.

20 March 2012: Plan Thailand and Thammasat University’s Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication jointly launched a public campaign Tuesday to address the plight of hundreds of thousands of Thailand’s stateless children who have been deprived of basic human rights such as education and healthcare.

The collaboration, which involves a seminar and a film contest for university students, will raise awareness among the general public, the news media and the soon-to-be journalists on the issue of statelessness and possible solutions to the problem.

"We at the Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication strive to prepare our students for responsible and ethical reporting of stories about children. Collaboration between Plan and Thammasat helps us achieve our goals,” said Associate Professor Pornthip Sampattavanija, dean of the faculty.

Up for discussion

Kicking off the campaign on March 20, which also marks Plan’s 75th birthday, a panel of experts working with stateless people shared their thoughts, experiences and challenges at the seminar held at the Rangsit campus. Children who don’t have Thai nationality and those who recently obtained one with the help of Plan also discussed the economic, social and legal difficulties they have faced being stateless. An award-winning short film produced by stateless children was also shown.

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), statelessness occurs for a variety of reasons, including discrimination against minority groups in national legislation, failure to include all residents in the body of citizens when a state becomes independent and conflicts of laws between states.

Statelessness is a massive problem that affects an estimated 12,000,000 people worldwide, says UNHCR. Non-government and government agencies estimate there are more than 1,000,000 stateless people in Thailand, 65,000 of whom are in Chiang Rai’s Mae Fah Luang district.

A global issue

Plan, which works in 50 developing nations across Asia, Africa and the Americas to promote child rights and lift millions of children out of poverty, believes giving every child a birth certificate is an effective measure to prevent statelessness.

“We take it for granted that every child celebrates their birthday yet millions of children in the developing world can’t because their births are not registered. Many of these children don’t even know how old they are because they don’t have a birth certificate,” Plan Asia Regional Director Mark Pierce said.

Every year, approximately 51 million children – two thirds of them born in Asia – are denied the basic right of a birth certificate. Without this vital piece of documentation, children have no formal identity, they don’t officially exist and are denied basic rights. Accessing medical treatment, enrolling at school, inheriting property, finding a job and staying secure from exploitation all rely on birth registration.

Sign Plan’s petition to make birth registration a global priority.

"Go Japan!" posters will be given to tsunami-affected children

9 March 2012: Plan will deliver a special message to school children in Japan’s tsunami-affected areas thanks to Thomson Reuters* and their partnership of Formula One™ team, Williams F1 Team.

“Go Japan!” posters signed by Williams F1 Team drivers Pastor Maldonado and Bruno Senna have been specially created for children as a joint effort between Plan and Thomson Reuters.

Emotional care

Plan Japan is among a few international agencies working closely with the Japanese government to carry out tsunami relief work. Our emergency response has remained focused on supporting emotional care needs of children and their care givers such as parents and teachers.

“In the last year tsunami survivors, especially children have gone through a very challenging time. Supporting children return to normality has been a key priority of Plan’s aid response. The ‘Go Japan!’ posters will certainly put a smile on children’s faces and give a boost to our efforts,” said Gabriel Kazuo Tsurumi, executive managing and national director of Plan Japan.

Getting the goods

A total of 20 schools in Miyagi prefecture, where Plan has carried out psychosocial support activities, will receive the signed posters.

“A significant population has been affected by the tsunami and emotional well-being of survivors is vital for wider recovery. Even a token gesture like ‘Go Japan!’ posters can support our efforts to advocate for overwhelming emotional care needs of survivors,” said Mie Kashiwade, who is leading Plan’s emergency response unit in Miyagi.

In the last year, Plan has worked with psychologists, teachers and parents and reached 25,000 tsunami survivors, mostly children. We have also directly engaged with school children through activities such as child media projects and drumming sessions tailored to involve children's participation and support their emotional care needs.

Find out more about Plan's tsunami relief work

Children are at the centre of Plan's response.

6 January 2011: Plan is supporting the basic needs of thousands of people affected by Typhoon Sendong (Washi) in the Mindanao Island of the Philippines.

The severe flooding and devastation caused by the tropical storm on 16 December last year left more than 1,200 dead and affected nearly 118,000 families. Over 80,000 families who evacuated following floods are still homeless.

Plan is responding to the needs of families in the worst-affected parts of Iligan, Cagayan de Oro and Negros Oriental. We are aiming to reach nearly 150,000 affected people and have started distributing relief items including 10,000 hygiene kits, 10,000 water-purification kits, 15,000 mosquito nets and 20,000 traditional blankets.

“The need is overwhelming. We are working with local government, UN and other humanitarian actors to reach out to the most vulnerable groups," said Carin van der Hor, Plan’s country director in the Philippines

Supporting those in need

Children continue to remain the main focus of Plan’s aid response. We have distributed and set up tents in Iligan and Cagayan de Oro for use as shelters and temporary learning spaces for children. These tents were provided as in-kind support from Irish Aid’s emergency stock warehouse in Malaysia and supplemented by funds from the Irish government’s emergency response funding scheme.

So far Plan has conducted 8 sessions with 537 children and 87 adults in Cagayan de Oro to address their emotional needs.

“Children living in displaced settings and separated from families are extremely vulnerable. Their health, protection, emotional care and education should be the main priority," said Dr Unni Krishnan, Plan’s disaster response policy coordinator.

Plan has been working in the Philippines since 1961 and runs a project along with Unicef supporting children formerly associated with armed groups in parts of Mindanao. Even though Plan’s programme areas in Mindanao escaped the typhoon, we are responding to the overwhelming needs of thousands affected by the flood.

Plan is appealing to raise $1.5m towards its initial response. We have so far mobilised nearly $1m in confirmed and under-negotiation grants.

Find out more about Plan Philippines here.

Many families spent Christmas in makeshift shelters.

28 December 2011: Donated items worth $265,000 sent by Irish Aid through Plan have arrived at their destination in Mindanao, Philippines, where tens of thousands of families have been displaced by flooding. 

The donation includes 400 tents, 15,000 blankets and 15,000 bars of soap that will augment Plan’s first wave of support to Mindanao, which included 10 000 hygiene kits, 10 000 hyposols (for purifying water) and 2,000 water containers worth $75,000. 

As the number of fatalities increases to about 1,500 people with more than 1,000 others missing, survivors of Tropical Storm Sendong (international name: Washi) in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan face many uncertainties. 

Uprooted

More than 70,000 families have been displaced by the storm, of which 62,000 families live outside evacuation centers. Shelter has become a growing problem as evacuees need to transfer to tent cities before schools open on 3 January. 

A potential relocation site for families has been identified in Cagayan de Oro, but residents can’t move in yet as the local government says there is still a lot of work to do there. Iligan, meanwhile, no relocation site as of yet. This means survivors have to stay in tent cities until a permanent shelter can be found.

“We know that in times like these, people need to have a semblance of normalcy in their life. Having a place to stay in which their privacy is protected and respected lessens their stress. This is especially true for mothers and their children,” said Carin van der Hor, Plan’s country director in the Philippines. 

“Bringing children back in a safe and secure environment amongst their peers is of utmost important in emergency situations. This is why Plan International is lobbying for a greater investment in the education sector after disasters,” she added.

More than 100,000 people have been affected.

19 December, 2011: Plan International is responding to the needs of thousands of people affected by severe flooding after Typhoon Sendong (international name Washi) wreaked havoc in Mindanao, the Philippines, last Friday.

The Southern island of Mindanao, which is usually spared the worst of the Philippines' annual storms, is home to various tribes of indigenous peoples. 

Plan will send 10,000 hygiene kits, 10,000 hyposols (water-purification kits) and 2,000 water containers as a first wave of response to communities in Iligan City and Cagayan de Oro, two of the worst hit areas. Plan will also do an assessment in Negros Oriental, which has been declared under a "state of calamity".

"The hygiene kits and hyposols will be given to around 8,500 families in evacuation centres. The water containers will augment those that have been distributed by the Department of Social Welfare and Development,” said Carin van der Hor, Plan’s country director in the Philippines.

“We will be going around to see how we can help the most marginalized in this situation: the children, the women and the indigenous peoples.” 

Children in need

Plan will provide psycho-social support to children who have been affected by the disaster.

“The magnitude of impact on the psycho-social wellbeing of children -- especially those who have lost their families -- is so huge that this organization feels this is something we will need to respond to soon,” added van der Hor.

Plan, which runs a child-soldier-registration project in Mindanao, has been working in the Philippines since 1961. It has extensive experience working with children and communities in the wake of disasters.

Find out more about Plan's work in the Philippines or visit the Plan Philippines media centre for further contacts.

Plan Thailand's country director is excited about using this new technology.

7 December 2011: Plan’s staff in Thailand had been looking for an innovative alternative to the time and effort it takes to collect and digitise community information from around the nation. As in many countries, the usual process is to scribble things down using pens and paper and then type up the notes onto a computer later on.

Oftentimes the paper ends up all dirty and scruffed up, or else lost altogether, never to be found again, leading to a little guesswork and a lot of retyping. It’s a long, tedious process for staff and volunteers and it makes reliable monitoring of programmes difficult.

First the science...

After a lot of anguish and hair pulling, in stepped colleagues from Plan Kenya with a solution. They’d been working with Plan Finland and a Finnish partner, Pajat, on making use of POIMapper*, a nifty mobile mapping tool can be loaded onto any cellphone with GPS. The technology uses the phone’s mobile network to upload information collected by staff straight to a database where it can be accessed in just a few minutes. In open spaces, the software will also record geographical coordinates using the phone’s GPS, essential for pinpointing communities on a map.

...then the simple

But what does all that actually mean in practical terms? Well, Plan Thailand used the technology during visits to migrant workers affected by tuberculosis (TB) to collect real-time information on their location, health and access to treatment. Accessible by both the programme unit and country office, the data quickly showed where most TB patients were located and also patient information such as gender and age, allowing health services to be targeted and an effective response put into action.

This type of mobile technology, of which POIMapper is but one fine example, makes data collection more efficient and cost-effective and also allows staff to collect media such as photos, videos and sound recordings.

As Maja Cubarrubia, Plan Thailand’s country directors, says, “We’ve created a lot of excitement here, and once staff get the hang of it, they’ll think this is something we should all be doing!”

For a more in depth look at Plan Thailand’s use of POIMapper, check out this video presentation by Maja Cubarrubia*.

* Plan is not responsible for the content of external sites.

Children in Chiang Rai enjoying the festivities.

2 December 2011: The theme for this year’s World AIDS Day* on 1 December was “Getting to Zero”, which means zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination, Zero AIDS-related deaths. Plan Thailand promotes HIV and AIDS prevention programmes for young people by supporting sex education curricula activities and strengthening youth groups so that they can be peer educators in their communities.

We also develop livelihood programmes for people living with HIV and help them obtain better access to health services. Here are some of the activities Plan Thailand got up to on World AIDS Day this year.

Bangkok

Plan Thailand joined the Thai NGO Coalition on AIDS (TNCA) to campaign on World AIDS Day in Sathorn Thani. Standard Chartered Thailand also joined the campaign as part of their corporate social responsibility programme. Activities included games, HIV/AIDS education sessions, condom distribution and the raising of funds for people living with HIV affected by the recent floods.   

Chiang Rai

Plan Thailand teamed up with Mae Chan hospital in the morning to campaign on World AIDS day to 1,200 students at Suksasongkroh School in Mae Chan district. HIV/AIDS and TB staff in Chiang Rai worked together for the campaign, conducting various activities to promote prevention of HIV/AIDS and other opportunistic infectious diseases, such as TB.  

In the afternoon all Plan Thailand staff joined the Chiang Rai Provincial Public Health Office to campaign at the Central Department Store. The campaign included activities promoting HIV/AIDS prevention and disclosure, as well as condom distribution.  

Srisaket

In Srisaket Plan Thailand staff kicked off a series of campaign dates around the province on 15 November in collaboration with the Educational Services Area Office. The campaign tour will go on until 8 December, reaching out to the general public with such activities as condom distribution, lessons on HIV/AIDS prevention and the provision of HIV/AIDS brochures. 

Find out more about Plan’s work in Thailand.

* Plan is not responsible for the content of external sites.

A girl affected by HIV draws a picture as part of an art therapy programme in Thailand.

1 December 2011: Today, December 1, is World AIDS Day 2011*. The theme for this year's event is "Getting to Zero", which means continuing efforts to get to zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths across Asia and the rest of the world. The Getting to Zero campaign will last until 2015 and while the ultimate outcome may be aspirational, there are a number of concrete targets to be reached in the next four years.

Although the HIV prevalence rate in Asia is low compared with sub-Saharan Africa, the populations in some countries are so large that the numbers of people living with HIV is substantial. UNAIDS* estimates that in 2009, 4,900,000 adults and children in Asia were living with HIV. UNICEF estimates that around 580,000 young people aged 15–24 in the East Asia and Pacific region live with HIV.

Although the number of children younger than 15 living with HIV increased marginally from 140,000 in 2005 to 160,000 in 2009, young people are increasingly at risk of infection. HIV prevalence is on the rise in Bangladesh, Pakistan (where drug injecting is the main mode of HIV transmission) and the Philippines.

Vulnerability to HIV in Asia tends to be associated with socio-economic conditions, including genderbased inequalities, no access to education, rural-to-urban migration, early marriage, early childbearing, living and working on the street, selling and exchanging sex and other risky income-earning strategies.

Fear of the disease continues to elicit widespread stigmatising of people living with and affected by HIV or AIDS. It still provokes discrimination, especially in denying access to basic services, such as healthcare and education. The continuing human rights violations also impede effective responses to the spread of the virus.

Our goal

Our aim is to fulfill the rights of children in relation to HIV prevention, treatment and care and to protect their rights in the context of AIDS-impacted families and communities.

Our strategy

Plan’s advocacy work promotes a rights-based approach to HIV prevention, treatment and care. We work to strengthen and expand each country’s institutional capacity and each community’s competence in responding to their HIV situation. Additionally, we focus on increasing the participation of children and young people in HIV services and programming when it is in their best interest.

Our strengths

We have continually renewing partnerships with The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development and the Asian Development Bank. Plan also has considerable competence in piloting innovative programmes within communities and reaching marginalised and vulnerable groups.

Read about our achievements and future plans for tackling HIV/AIDS in Asia.

* Plan is not responsible for the content of external sites.

Children's health and education is suffering during this crisis time.

18 November 2011: More than 75 children have so far died in the flood disaster in Thailand, while tens of thousands of children have been displaced -- often resulting in long, crowded stays in evacuation centers. In addition to children not being able to return to school, some 3,288 educational institutions have been damaged.

These were some of the issues highlighted in a joint statement delivered to the Office of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra by a number of Thai NGOs and INGOs on 14 November.

While commending the government for its extensive relief efforts so far, the signatories -- Plan International Thailand, World Vision Foundation of Thailand, Right to Play Thailand Foundation and ZOA Refugee Care -- highlighted health, education and child protection as key priority areas that should continue to be integrated into emergency relief and recovery activities. 

More can be done

Most of the 500+ deaths so far were from drowning or electrocution, with the threat of water-borne diseases increasingly becoming a concern as contaminated floodwater begins subsiding. 

In addition to the Health ministry’s own responsibilities in supporting those in medical need and restoring the damage done by the floods, the aid agencies encourage the government to identify and reach out to pregnant mothers, mothers with infants or young children, orphaned or vulnerable children, children with physical disabilities or special needs, and children needing treatment for chronic conditions.

Health and education

The statement highlights the need for quality health services for both Thai and non-Thai children. Some of the issues raised in the statement include the provision of women- and infant-friendly spaces to promote breast-feeding, advice and supplies to improve infant and young child feeding practices, and educating parents about the importance of the first 1,000 days of a child’s life.

The group of organisations also calls attention to the current void in education and in child protection, urging the government to £provide educational activities and temporary education supplies for children in flood-affected areas, and to support psychology and stress management professionals to assist these children." 

Plan Thailand has distributed 1,000 relief kits targeting the needs of affected children and mothers in Bang Pa-in District in Ayutthaya and is in the process of distributing 1,000 family relief kits for 5,000 beneficiaries at evacuation centres in Ayutthaya, Pathum Thani and Bangkok.  

Plan Thailand works with Childline Thailand Foundation and Kluaynamthai Hospital on Child Friendly Spaces and is setting up baby stations to promote breastfeeding and safe infant feeding at 4 evacuation centres in Ayutthaya, Pathum Thani and Bangkok for at least 200 children and infants.