Child survival
Helping children survive and thrive
Challenges
Every day, 95 children in the Philippines die from malnutrition. Twenty-seven out of 1,000 Filipino children do not get past their fifth birthday. A third of Filipino children are stunted, or short for their age. Stunting after 2 years of age can be permanent, irreversible and even fatal.
Apart from high rates of stunting and neonatal deaths, low routine immunization coverage and lack of access to clean water and sanitation facilities also threaten children’s survival and development in the Philippines.
This is exacerbated by natural disasters and climate change that impact one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world.
Children who do make it past their fifth birthday face an uncertain future. During adolescence, children are faced with various challenges that impede their health and well-being. Teenage pregnancy, HIV infections, and violence are a few of the threats they face.
Solutions
UNICEF helps the Philippine government deliver services and systems that give every child a fair chance in life. From the first 1,000 days of a child’s life (from pregnancy to 2 years old) to their adolescence, we work with our partners to deliver inclusive access to age-appropriate, culturally sensitive, gender-responsive and disaster-resilient health, nutrition, and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) programmes and interventions, including in emergency situations, especially for the most vulnerable children, adolescents and women.
We build on our experience in policies and laws to improve the government’s coordination, planning and budgeting systems. UNICEF supports the government to implement integrated approaches in the areas of social protection, child protection, health, hygiene and sanitation, nutrition and early childhood care and development.
We engage young people to participate in shaping the country’s future.
We foster partnerships with the private sector to find solutions. We empower the Filipino public to join the movement in promoting and protecting children’s rights.