Press releases

NEW YORK/GENEVA, 27 July 2021, – “The Pre-Summit of the UN Food Systems is an opportunity to set the agenda for how we will boldly and collectively strengthen food systems, promote healthy diets, and improve nutrition, especially for children and young people. “Even before the pandemic, children were bearing the brunt of broken food systems and poor diets, leading to an…

GENEVA, 27 July 2021 - ", Even with schools in the northern hemisphere closed for the summer, more than 600 million children in countries not on academic break are still affected by school closures. "In Asia and the Pacific: in nearly half the countries, schools have been closed for more than 200 days during the pandemic. "After some of the longest closures ever seen, and…

ANTANANARIVO, 26 July 2021 –, At least half a million children under the age of five are expected to be acutely malnourished including 110,000 in severe condition, in drought-affected southern Madagascar, suffering irreversible damage to their growth and development. The number of acutely malnourished children is likely to increase fourfold since the previous assessment…

NEW YORK/COPENHAGEN 26 July 2021 - , UNICEF and Sinovac have signed a long-term agreement for the supply of the CoronaVac inactivated virus vaccine against COVID-19 on behalf of the COVAX Facility. Through the supply agreement, UNICEF will have access to up to 200 million doses of the vaccine in 2021 to supply participating countries and territories in the COVAX Facility’s Advance…

BEIRUT, 23 July 2021 –, More than four million people, including one million refugees, are at immediate risk of losing access to safe water in Lebanon. With the rapidly escalating economic crisis, shortages of funding, fuel and supplies such as chlorine and spare parts, UNICEF estimates that most water pumping will gradually cease across the country in the next four to…

PRETORIA, 22 July 2021, – The impact of disrupted education since the COVID-19 outbreak has been devastating, with learners between 75 per cent and a full school year behind where they should be, according to latest statistics. Rotational attendance, sporadic school closures and days off for specific grades, have resulted in school children losing 54 per cent of learning…, #####, Notes to editors: Latest statistics come from the National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS) – Coronavirus Rapid Mobile Survey (CRAM) Wave 5, as well as the Department of Basic Education. Children in a classroom UNICEF South Africa/2020/Schermbrucker

NEW YORK, 19 July 2021, – “As the official COVID-19 death toll around the world passed 4 million earlier this month, UNICEF is increasingly concerned for children left without one or both parents. “As with all crises and health pandemics, the most vulnerable children are at increased risk of losing parental care – due to death, severe illness or financial hardship. This…

DAMASCUS/AMMAN, 15 July 2021-,  “The persistent interruptions of essential services to civilians in Syria are increasing. Ongoing disruptions to the critical Alouk water station in northeast Syria must stop. “Since November 2019, the Alouk water station, which directly provides clean drinking water to nearly 460,000 people, has been disrupted at least 24 times. Since 23 June,…

GENEVA/NEW YORK, 15 July 2021 ---, 23 million children missed out on basic vaccines through routine immunization services in 2020 – 3.7 million more than in 2019 - according to official data published today by WHO and UNICEF. This latest set of comprehensive worldwide childhood immunization figures, the first official figures to reflect global service disruptions due to COVID-19,…, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, . “Multiple disease outbreaks would be catastrophic for communities and health systems already battling COVID-19, making it more urgent than ever to invest in childhood vaccination and ensure every child is reached.”, In all regions, rising numbers of children miss vital first vaccine doses in 2020; millions more miss later vaccines, Disruptions in immunization services were widespread in 2020, with the WHO Southeast Asian and Eastern Mediterranean Regions most affected.  As access to health services and immunization outreach were curtailed, the number of children not receiving even their very first vaccinations increased in all regions. As compared with 2019, 3.5 million more…, Henrietta Fore, UNICEF Executive Director, . “Even before the pandemic, there were worrying signs that we were beginning to lose ground in the fight to immunize children against preventable child illness, including with the widespread measles outbreaks two years ago. The pandemic has made a bad situation worse. With the equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines at the forefront of…, Table 1: Countries with the greatest increase in children not receiving a first dose of diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis combined vaccine (DTP-1),  , 2019, 2020, India 1'403'000 3'038'000 Pakistan 567'000 968'000 Indonesia 472'000 797'000 Philippines 450'000 557'000 Mexico 348000 454'000 Mozambique 97'000 186'000 Angola 399'000 482'000 United Republic of Tanzania 183'000 249'000 Argentina 97'000 156'000 Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) 75'000 134'000 Mali 136'000 193'000       The data shows that middle-…, Countries risk resurgence of measles, other vaccine-preventable diseases, Even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, global childhood vaccination rates against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, measles and polio had stalled for several years at around 86 per cent. This rate is well below the 95 per cent recommended by WHO to protect against measles –often the first disease to resurge when children are not reached with vaccines…, Dr Seth Berkley, CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, . “This is a wake-up call – we cannot allow a legacy of COVID-19 to be the resurgence of measles, polio and other killers. We all need to work together to help countries both defeat COVID-19, by ensuring global, equitable access to vaccines, and get routine immunization programmes back on track. The future health and wellbeing of millions of…, Agencies call for urgent recovery and investment in routine immunization, As countries work to recover lost ground due to COVID-19 related disruptions, UNICEF, WHO and partners like Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance are supporting efforts to strengthen immunization systems by: Restoring services and vaccination campaigns so countries can safely deliver routine immunization programmes during the COVID-19 pandemic; Helping…, About the data, Based on country-reported data, the official WHO and UNICEF estimates of national immunization coverage (WUENIC) provide the world’s largest data-set on immunization trends for vaccinations against 13 diseases given through regular health systems - normally at clinics or community centres or health worker visits. For 2020, data were provided from…, New modelling also shows significant declines in DTP, measles vaccination coverage, New modelling, also published today in The Lancet by researchers at the Washington-based Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), similarly shows that childhood vaccination declined globally in 2020 due to COVID-19 disruptions. The IHME-led modelling is based on country-reported administrative data for DTP and measles vaccines,…

PANAMA CITY, 14 July 2021, - "Until yesterday, Haiti was the only country in the Americas without a single dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Today, 500,000 doses of vaccine donated by the U.S government through COVAX landed in Port-Au-Prince, the capital city of Haiti. "In the first five months of this year, the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths has nearly doubled in Haiti.…

Download the Talent on the Move report here, NEW YORK, 14 July 2021, – Nearly 40 per cent of migrant and displaced youth identified education and skills training as their top priorities, while 30 per cent named employment opportunities, according to a new UNICEF poll announced on the eve of World Youth Skills Day. Approximately 70 per cent of those surveyed also said limited financial resources prevent them from…

Paris/New York/Washington D.C., 13 July 2021, – Around one in three countries where schools are or have been closed are not yet implementing remedial programmes post-COVID-19 school closures, according to a UNESCO, UNICEF, World Bank and OECD global "Survey on National Education Responses to COVID-19 School Closures". At the same time, only one-third of countries are taking steps to measure…, school closures, : around 40 per cent of countries extended the academic year and a similar proportion of countries prioritized certain curriculum areas. However, more than half of the countries reported that no adjustments have been or will be made. Many countries improved health and safety standards at examination centres, still, 28 per cent of countries, cancelled examinations, in lower secondary and 18 per cent of countries did so in upper secondary education. Reviewing or, revising access policies, was uncommon, especially for girls – a cause for concern as adolescent girls are at the highest risk of not returning to school in low- and lower-middle-income countries. Low-income countries are lagging in the implementation of even the most basic measures to ensure a, return to school, . For instance, only less than 10 per cent reported having sufficient soap, clean water, sanitation and hygiene facilities and masks, compared to 96 per cent of high-income countries. The survey also sheds light on the deployment and effectiveness of distance learning and related support more than one year into the pandemic. Results show that:…, remote learning, : Radio and TV broadcasts were more popular among low-income countries, while high-income countries provided online learning platforms. However, over a third of low- and lower-middle-income countries reported that less than half of primary school students were reached. Ensuring take-up and engagement requires, remote learning strategies, suited to the context, parental engagement, support from and to teachers, and ensuring girls and other marginalized children are not left behind. It also requires generating rigorous data on the effectiveness of remote learning. While 73 per cent of countries assessed the effectiveness of at least one distance learning strategy, there is still a…