With reference to UNICEF, answer the following questions:

(a) What was the purpose of setting up of UNICEF?

(b) Briefly mention the functions of UNICEF.

(c) Mention some of the UNICEF programmes followed in India.

(a) The purpose of setting up of UNICEF was to help the emergency needs of children in post-war Europe.

(b) The functions of UNICEF are as follows-

1. It works for the protection of children in respect of their survival, health, and well-being.
2. It provides funds for training personnel, including health and sanitation workers, teachers and nutritionists. Universal Child Immunisation against preventable diseases was one of the leading goals of UNICEF.
3. It provides technical supplies, equipment and other aids, ranging from paper for textbooks, to equipment and medicines to health clinics, to pipes and pumps for bringing clean water to villages.
4. It assists governments to plan, develop and extend community-based services in the fields of maternal and child health, nutrition, clean water and sanitation.
5. It provides help to children and mothers in emergencies arising from natural calamities, civil strifes and epidemics.
6. It makes effort to prevent diseases like tuberculosis (T.B.), malaria, eye diseases, skin diseases, etc.
7. UNICEF performs various other functions. As the sole agency for children, it speaks on behalf of children and upholds the Convention on the Rights of the Child and works for its implementation.

(c) The major programmes launched with the aid and assistance of UNICEF in India are as follows:

1. The government of India has launched in collaboration with UNICEF — the National Mission on Immunisation, the National Mission for Drinking Water and the National Literacy Mission.
2. Community Development Programme has been started in the rural areas of India with UNICEF's assistance, aimed at maternal and child health.
3. The government's efforts to reduce infant and child mortality due to diarrhoeal diseases supported by UNICEF for the production of Oral Rehydration Therapy (ORT).
4. UNICEF is a partner of the Indian government in the accelerated rural water supply programme.
5. Since the 1990s, the government of India, UNICEF and other UN agencies have been working together for the promotion of iodised salt as the best way of preventing iodine deficiency disorders.
6. UNICEF seeks to advance the fulfillment of the rights of all women and children in India to survival, development, participation and protection by reducing social inequalities based on gender, caste, ethnicity or region.