UNICEF Health Workers in Ecuador Battle COVID-19 in Their Own Backyard
In her work as a UNICEF community health monitor, Magdalena, above, goes door-to-door to make sure children are up to date on their childhood immunizations. When COVID-19 struck her neighborhood hard, she never expected that her young daughter, Brithany, would test positive, let alone be diagnosed with multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C), a rare but serious condition associated with COVID-19.
What happens when your child gets sick with COVID-19? Watch the video to learn one mother's story:
Magdalena's case is "very special because she is a community leader who has become an active contact tracer in the referral of COVID-19 cases of pregnant women, of children with incomplete vaccine schedules, also with cases of possible malnutrition," says Carmen Vasquéz, a UNICEF community health worker. "And she also experienced the pandemic firsthand, because her family got sick with COVID-19. This whole training process has helped her to address the disease in the best way."
As a key implementing partner in ACT-A and the COVAX Facility, UNICEF is working to help end the pandemic by delivering vaccines equitably worldwide and educating the public on the safety and efficacy of vaccines. You can help.
Top photo: UNICEF community health monitor Magdalena and her daughter, Brithany, tested positive for COVID-19 in Mont Sinaí, Guayaquil, Ecuador — along with all of their neighbors. Her personal experience with the pandemic informs her work as a contact tracer and resource for families with children who are behind on their vaccines. © UNICEF/UN0361904/Arcos. Video edited by Tong Su for UNICEF USA
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War, famine, poverty, natural disasters — threats to the world's children keep coming. But UNICEF won't stop working to keep children healthy and safe.
UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories — more places than any other children's organization. UNICEF has the world's largest humanitarian warehouse and, when disaster strikes, can get supplies almost anywhere within 72 hours. Constantly innovating, always advocating for a better world for children, UNICEF works to ensure that every child can grow up healthy, educated, protected and respected.
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