Health and well-being

Despite the tremendous progress in child and adolescent health and well-being over the last two decades, challenges remain.

Millions of children still die from causes that could be prevented with quality health care. In addition, unhealthy diets, inactive lifestyles, substance use and polluted environments continue to threaten the health and well-being of children and young people worldwide. Children living in poverty, girls, children with disabilities and children in emergency settings are among those mostly likely to be deprived of timely and quality health care.

Worldwide, children and young people grapple with mental health disorders and challenges to their general mental well-being. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, concerns over the mental health of children and young people have soared. Despite the needs, knowledge about mental health in early childhood and the psychosocial needs of children in humanitarian settings is scarce.

As fertility rates drop and life expectancies rise, investment is more important now than ever before. How global leaders invest in young people’s health and well-being will determine their futures, and ours.

For UNICEF Office of Strategy and Evidence – Innocenti, our focus is on mental health and well-being. Through our research and analysis, we aim to create a deeper understanding of the social determinants of mental health, including the risk and protective factors that emerge at different developmental stages of a child’s life. Our research maps evidence on the effectiveness of psychosocial interventions and points the way to improving children’s health and well-being.