Emma Bonino, European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid, announced a grant of 2.6 million ECU for a diphtheria vaccination campaign in the former Soviet Union. The occasion was a meeting on Thursday with Carol Bellamy, Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), with which a Framework Partnership Agreement was signed. The Commissioner was responding to an appeal for funding launched jointly by UNICEF, the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC) and the World Health Organisation (WHO).

An outbreak of diphtheria that started in Russia in 1991 has spread throughout the former Soviet Union. There could be up to 200,000 cases this year if the disease goes unchecked. There is also a danger that it could move westwards: isolated cases have already been reported in Finland and Germany. "We thought this epidemic was eradicated from the European Continent, but the socio-economic developments in the CIS have contributed to renewal of the threat - Mrs. Bonino said - we must do all in our powers to prevent the spread of this disease".

The European Community Humanitarian Office (ECHO)'s grant of 2.6 million European Currency Units will contribute to the start-up of the three-year programme. The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) will work in the Southern Caucasus and Central Asia with a grant of 1.6 million. One million Ecu will go to the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC), which will cover the Baltic States.

This is one of the many cases on which the lasting cooperation between ECHO and UNICEF is built. Now the relation is strengthened by the Framework Partnership Agreement that sets out the basis to define the specifics of any given campaign, in order to have a faster reaction when a situation of crisis happens. During the meeting, Mrs. Bonino and Mrs. Bellamy underlined the necessity for an increased visibility of humanitarian aid.

"The Funds are getting scarcer - the European Commissioner says - and we are on the verge of a donors' fatigue that could prevent us from further developing the humanitarian action. We must inform the citizens of what we are doing and how we are doing it. They must know how many lives we have saved so far. Otherwise, it will be impossible for governments to approve plans aimed at increasing the humanitarian funds. That's one of the reasons why we all have to find ways to work together and why this agreement with Unicef is of paramount importance".

Background on ECHO-Unicef Relations.

United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) is the lead agency of the United Nations for children. It is the third most important UN implementing agency after the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the World Food Programme. ECHO channels about a 3 percent of its total humanitarian aid projects through this agency specialising in children and education.

Since 1990, the volume of operations ECHO has financed through UNICEF has increased in both absolute and real terms. This increase has been almost tenfold, from 1.6 MECU in 1990 to 12 MECU in 1994.

The pattern of UNICEF activity in 1993 and 1994 is very different.

Whereas in 1993, the lion's share of funds went to Ex-Yugoslavia (46,9%) the picture changes dramatically for 1994, when UNICEF did not submit any requests for this region. Its efforts have been concentrated on two regions, namely, Africa, Caribbean & Pacific countries (73,4%) with operations in Burundi (2 MECU), Mozambique (0.8 MECU), Rwanda (53.5 MECU) and Sudan (2 MECU), and the Caucasus (26.6%) with projects in Armenia (1 MECU), Azerbaijan (1.4 MECU) and Georgia (0.7 MECU).

In terms of types of UNICEF projects financed, Medical & Nutritional programmes account for 30% followed by: Medical (19.9%); Sanitation (19.2%); First Aid Items (11.9%); Transport (6.4%); Logistics (5.5%); Miscellaneous (5.5%) and Food (1.6 %).