International Campaign for Tibet
UNICEF Chief gets first hand look at health and education
http://www.savetibet.org
deficit in Tibet
Date : September 2, 2004
The Executive Director of UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), Carol Bellamy, who completed a two-day inspection trip
to Tibet on August 31, has said that much work needs to be done to improve the health and education of
women and children to catch up with the situation in China.
In press statements issued during and after her tour, Bellamy has said that "time is running out to help Tibet"
although she said she was gratified to see that China has "met the substantial challenges in basic education."
Bellamy also highlighted the need to strengthen preventive health practices in Tibet.
Bellamy arrived in Tibet on August 29, 2004 to get a first hand look at the situation of children. She traveled to
Lhoka region of Tibet (Chinese: Shannan Prefecture) from Chengdu and met with health and education officials
there, including the Prefecture Vice Governor Chang Zhen. She visited Nedong and Chongye counties in the
Prefecture touring village households, schools and health facilities.
Following are the series of press statements issued by UNICEF.
Bellamy urges Tibet to reach for new heights for children
TSE DANG, TIBET, 31 August 2004 - UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy today completed two days of
visits with families, health clinics and elementary schools in the Naidung and Chongjie counties. Bellamy got an
up close look at the issues faced at village level in Tibet through numerous discussions with parents, health
workers and teachers. The visit will help UNICEF and its local government partners to refine their strategies to
reduce the stark disparities that affect much of Western China. UNICEF has been working with local government
in Tibet since 1980.
"There has been much progress for women and children here, but there is still much work to do to catch up with
the rest of China," said Bellamy. "We need to strengthen preventive health and do a better job of packaging
interventions like education, sanitation and hygiene," she added. Although there has been significant progress
in primary health care in the last decade, Tibet still has the highest maternal and child mortality rates in China.
In the last decade, child and maternal death rates in Tibet have dropped by around half, reflecting enormous
gains. Still, child mortality stands at 53 per thousand live births and maternal mortality is over 400 per 100,000
live births, up to eight times higher than the national rate.
The UNICEF China program is mounting intensive efforts to develop with local government partners new
strategies and initiatives to tackle these disparities over the next five years.
Bellamy focused much of her consultation with village health workers on expanding preventive health practices
versus reliance on curative measures. "I am impressed to see the amount that the Government has invested in
infrastructure ? in roads, electricity and ccommunications in Tibet," she said, "now its essential for the same
kind of commitment to go into empowering families to prevent illness at home and in improving grassroots
healthworker skills."
Tibet, and much of Western China, lag behind the rest of the country in the use of iodized salt to combat iodine
deficiency which reduces IQ by 10-15 points. Household usage of iodized salt in Tibet is 39 per cent while the
rate for China as a whole in over 95 per cent.
Bellamy also visited elementary schools and talked with teachers and students about the challenges of
delivering quality education in such a vast and sparsely populated province. Tibet is 1.2 million square
kilometers with a population of 2.7 million people. Primary school enrollment in Tibet is high at 92 per cent
considering the geography, but most children have to complete primary education in boarding schools.
Primary school drop out is estimated at 30-35 per cent mostly in the later grades. UNICEF is working with local
education officials to improve the quality of teaching and learning in boarding schools while packaging essential
interventions in health, life skills, sanitation and hygiene at schools.
Bellamy summed up: "We are gratified to see how the government has met the substantial challenges in basic
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International Campaign for Tibet
education, but with the dramatic social changes coming to China time is running out to help Tibet and all the
Western
provinces to catch up."
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Bellamy arrives in Tibet; proceeds to Shannan Prefecture, Reviews UNICEF cooperation with local
government health and education officials
AN HUI, TIBET, 30 August 2004 - Carol Bellamy arrived in Tibet yesterday to get a first hand look at the situation
of children in Western China, a region that is struggling to catch up with the country's strong economic growth.
Following a brief airport stop over in Cheng Du, to discuss cooperation for children with local government
partners of UNICEF in Sichuan, Ms Bellamy traveled to the Shannan prefecture of Tibet and met with a
delegation of 10 prefecture level health and education officials headed by Madame Chang Zhen, Vice Governor
of the Prefecture. Also present in the meeting was Dr. Chistian Voumard, UNICEF China Representative.
The meeting focused on UNICEF cooperation in Shannan in the areas of safe motherhood, basic education and
capacity building of teachers and educators. Although the rate of hospital childbirth in Tibet has doubled in the
last five years, it is still only 28" of all births. Bellamy emphasized the need to ensure that girls education was
attended to and stressed the need to converge UNICEF support in health and education in the same
communities.
Today Carol Bellamy will visit village households, schools and health facilities in various counties of Shannan
Prefecture.
China: UNICEF head gets first hand look at health and education deficit in Tibet
30 August 2004 - United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Executive Director Carol Bellamy is in Tibet to get a
first hand look at the situation of youngsters in western China, a region that is struggling to catch up with the
country's strong economic growth.
The Chinese economic advances which have catapulted hundreds of millions out of poverty are still a distant
reality for the western regions of the world's most swiftly developing nations. Compared to the east, those
areas face half the level of rural income, double the rates of child mortality, and, in some districts, five to 10
times the rates of maternal death.
Ms. Bellamy, who travelled to the Shannan prefecture of Tibet yesterday and met with a delegation of health
and education officials, was today visiting village households, schools and health facilities in various counties.
Her meetings have focused on UNICEF cooperation in the areas of safe motherhood, basic education and
training for teachers and educators. Although the rate of hospital childbirth in Tibet has doubled in the last five
years, it is still only 28 per cent of all births.
Ms. Bellamy stressed the need to attend to girls' education and stressed to combine UNICEF support in health
and education in the same communities.
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