UNICEF began working in Azerbaijan in 1993. During the first years of Azerbaijan’s independence, UNICEF’s programmes addressed both urgent humanitarian needs and national development priorities. Amongst those priorities, 25 years ago, were immunization against preventable diseases, improving child and maternal health and nutrition, providing primary education and protecting children at risk of harm.
Working together with the Government, civil society and local communities, UNICEF has contributed to significant progress for children and women in Azerbaijan, including – amongst other successes – helping to make Azerbaijan a polio-free country and reducing the prevalence of other preventable diseases, introducing universal iodisation of salt to reduce conditions such as stunting, raising primary school enrolment rates to over 90 per cent, introducing the first school preparedness programme for five-year old’s, and halving the number of children living in institutions.
At the same time, UNICEF has provided support to the country’s lawmakers and policy makers to introduce legislation and initiatives that have protected girls against early marriage, created more opportunities for children with disabilities to learn in mainstream schools, provided free legal aid services for children, increased access to sports and recreation for all children, increased the technical skills of health workers, teachers and other care professionals, and started to build new generations of social workers and youth workers.
