New UNICEF Executive Director Begins Tour to South African Countries

Ann M. Veneman, the former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, who became the fifth Executive Director to lead the UN children's agency (UNICEF) in its 60-year history, makes her first seven-day mission tour. She will visit three southern African countries where the needs are most desperate, and where many children are affected by AIDS in the world.

"Although sub-Saharan Africa has just 12 percent of the world's population, it has 42 percent of all child deaths. There is no other region where children face so many threats and in southern Africa the HIV/AIDS crisis is particularly devastating to children's well-being," stated Ms Venema.

She will be visiting the countries most affected by the 'triple threat' of food insecurity, weakened capacity for governance and AIDS. Maternal and child health facilities, schools, community outreach centres and supplementary feeding programs, Ann M. Veneman will meet with senior government officials, donor representatives and aid agencies in South Africa, Swaziland and Malawi.

Many locations that will be visited will benefit from the cooperative support of multiple UN agencies, including UNICEF, UNAIDS, the World Food Program, the World Health Organisation and other partners. The UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy, Mr. Morris has asked Ms. Veneman and UNAIDS Executive Director Peter Piot to join him to review the southern Africa crisis.

At the meeting in Johannesburg on Wednesday 25th May, they will examine current relief efforts, upcoming initiatives and resource needs, together with the ten country representatives from the United Nations system in southern Africa. Afterwards, the three UN leaders will hold a joint press conference to report about the challenges affecting the region.

According to the schedule, after visiting Johannesburg and Pretoria on 22-23 May, she travels to Swaziland on 24th and finishes her tour in Malawi (Zomba, Lilongwe and Blantyre) on 26–28 May.