Highlights
Following extensive advocacy by UNICEF, other partners and donors, the Ministry of Health (MoH) launched the first round of polio vaccination campaign on 21 October, seven weeks after the confirmation of polio outbreak. This is a major breakthrough representing resumption of systematic immunization of children in Ukraine after two years of vaccine supply shortages, and the first nationwide vaccination campaign held since 2008.
As the ceasefire continues to hold, the main danger faced by civilians, including children, has shifted to mines and other unexploded remnants of war; UNICEF has established new partnerships to expand its Mine Risk Education (MRE) programme providing life-saving knowledge to children and their families.
On 17 October, UN agencies were allowed to resume humanitarian activities in non-government-controlled areas of Luhansk region.
Following the late September registration of three international humanitarian organisations in non-government-controlled areas of Donetsk region, including a major UNICEF partner, deliveries of humanitarian aid resumed this month with three convoys carrying humanitarian cargo, including UNICEF WASH supplies and equipment.
Data released by the Ministry of Education and Science and the Ministry of Social Policy show that IDP children account for 25 per cent of children enrolled in schools in government-controlled areas of Luhansk and Donetsk regions, substantially higher than the national rate of 3.6 per cent.