Rohingya children and young people want more than survival – they want a hopeful future, too, For the last two years, more than 900,000 stateless Rohingya refugees living in the camps of the Cox’s Bazar district in southeast Bangladesh have focused on survival. New infrastructure and efforts aimed at providing the basics of health care, nutrition, and water, sanitation and hygiene have improved conditions for the children and families who…, Crisis at a glance, Bangladesh. A child walks through a refugee camp. A young boy walks to a learning centre during the monsoon rains in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. What’s happening? Rohingya who fled persecution and violence in Myanmar starting in August 2017 found refuge among an already vulnerable population in the Cox’s Bazar district of Bangladesh. As of August…, A desire for education, For children and young people, the protracted sense of limbo has awoken an intense desire for learning opportunities that prepare them for the future. UNICEF and its partners have ensured access to learning for 192,000 Rohingya children aged 4 to 14, who are enrolled in 2,167 learning centres. At the same time, the latest assessments show that…, Challenges ahead, Adolescents are the most excluded of all when it comes to learning, and even younger adolescents find little to do in the camp. This idleness and a lack of opportunity can be a recipe for trouble. Education for girls lags even further behind. In most cases, when girls reach puberty, they are withdrawn from school by their families. Surveys suggest…, Back to the drawing board, While the quality of learning for younger children needs strengthening, an entire adolescent curriculum needs to be established, offering foundational skills in literacy and numeracy alongside more practical vocational skills that can translate into opportunities in entrepreneurship. This task can only be achieved and taken to scale with the full…, How UNICEF is helping, When the huge influx of refugees began in 2017, UNICEF and partners responded by setting up about 2,000 learning centres in the camps. UNICEF and partners have developed around 100 adolescent clubs and established a network of youth centres that offer psychosocial support and classes in literacy, numeracy, life skills and vocational skills. By May…, A multi-pronged approach, However, a lack of education is only one of the obstacles children and families face in the Cox’s Bazar district. As the emergency response continues, it has become increasingly important to provide services that build bridges to the local community, protect children’s health and nutrition, and offer safe water and sanitation. UNICEF and partners…, Preventing disease outbreaks, Preventing disease outbreaks From the onset of the refugee emergency in 2017, the difficult physical conditions in the camps fuelled concern over a possible cholera outbreak. And despite the success of a cholera vaccination campaign that reached more than 1.2 million refugee and host community children and adults, health officials – and families…, Tackling malnutrition, Tackling malnutrition When the Rohingya refugees crisis began, malnutrition was considered one of the biggest threats facing young children. Most had fled one of the poorest regions of Myanmar and endured an arduous journey with little to sustain them. After intensive efforts by multiple humanitarian agencies under the Government of Bangladesh’s…, Building bridges, Building bridges The arrival of Rohingya refugees has placed stress on communities that already had some of the worst indicators for children’s well-being in Bangladesh. As a result, UNICEF and partners have also addressed local community needs as part of the refugee emergency response. These efforts have included screening for acute malnutrition…, Providing clean water, Providing clean water Until recently, most camp residents depended on unreliable handpumps, which often supplied contaminated water. However, the number of families with access to safer, piped water is steadily increasing. As of May 2019, 250,000 refugees living in the camp area under UNICEF’s responsibility had access to water, mostly at…, Looking ahead, Two years after hundreds of Rohingya refugees began flooding into southern Bangladesh, the immense humanitarian effort led by the Government of Bangladesh has stabilized conditions in the Cox’s Bazar district. However, the task is by no means over. The basic day-to-day needs of the Rohingya are being met. But providing for their longer-term needs…, Read more

The challenge, The world is now home to the largest cohort of adolescents in history – 1.2 billion people between the ages of 10 and 19. How they develop and grow has implications that reverberate across generations. Just some of the factors that impact the development of today’s adolescents include social media, urbanization, unhealthy diets, armed conflict,…, UNICEF's response, Around the world, UNICEF partners with adolescents to improve the policies, programmes and services that affect their health and well-being. We work with Governments in health and other areas – like education ; nutrition; gender; child protection; HIV and AIDS ; and water, sanitation and hygiene – to increase investments and help countries develop…, Resources, UNICEF Data Explore the latest global data on adolescent health , adolescent mental health , HIV and AIDS in adolescents , adolescent HIV prevention and adolescent mortality . Adolescent Kit for Expression and Innovation: Adapted Resource Package for COVID-19 This package of guidance, tools, activities and supplies aims to promote positive…, More from UNICEF

The challenge, Over the past two decades, the world has made tremendous progress improving child and adolescent health and well-being. But challenges persist. Communicable diseases continue to endanger children and adolescents across the globe – and new health problems are on the rise, especially in areas affected by poverty.  Mental health conditions,…, Resources, Every Woman Every Child Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health This strategy lays the groundwork for ending all preventable maternal, newborn and child deaths by 2030 and improving the overall health and well-being of women and children. Nurturing Care for Early Childhood Development Framework This framework, co-developed…, UNICEF’s response, UNICEF works around the world to help children survive and thrive throughout the first two decades of life. In line with the Sustainable Development Goals , our efforts build strong health systems to promote universal health coverage, while addressing emerging issues in child and adolescent health.    Adolescent health and well-being UNICEF and…

Section, Major causes of death among children vary by age. Children under 5 are especially vulnerable to infectious diseases like malaria , pneumonia , diarrhoea , HIV and tuberculosis . For older children, non-communicable diseases, injuries and conflict pose significant threats.  Despite being entirely preventable and treatable, common infectious…, Pneumonia, Pneumonia is the leading infectious cause of death among children under 5, killing approximately 800,000 children a year. In many parts of the world, a child dies from pneumonia every 39 seconds – even though the disease is entirely preventable and can be easily managed with antibiotics. Pneumonia is a disease of inequality – one concentrated…, Diarrhoea, In recent years, significant progress has been made reducing child deaths from diarrhoea. But diarrhoea remains a leading killer of young children, particularly in humanitarian settings.  In 2017, diarrhoea killed approximately 480,000 young children across the globe, accounting for 8 per cent of all deaths among children under age 5. Most deaths…, Malaria, Malaria is the world’s third most deadly disease for young children between the ages of one month and 5 years, following pneumonia and diarrhoea. In 2017, approximately 266,000 children under the age of 5 died of the disease, accounting for 61 per cent of global malaria deaths. Every two minutes, a child dies from malaria. Eliminating malaria…, Tuberculosis, A young boy smiles after being treated for malnutrition and tuberculosis. Nyajime Guet, who was being treated for severe acute malnutrition and tuberculosis, smiles in Juba, South Sudan. Tuberculosis (TB) is a disease that the world knows how to prevent and treat. Yet, over 600 children under the age of 15 die from it every day – nearly a quarter…, Resources, World Malaria Report, 2018 Learn more about why the global response to malaria has stalled, and what needs to be done to better combat a disease that claims more than 435,000 lives each year. One Is Too Many: Ending Child Deaths from Pneumonia and Diarrhoea This UNICEF report shows why and how ending preventable child deaths from pneumonia and…, More from UNICEF

The Challenge, In recent decades, the world has made significant progress reducing newborn and maternal deaths. Between 1990 and 2018, the newborn mortality rate was almost halved – from 37 to 18 deaths per 1,000 live births. From 2000 to 2017, the global maternal mortality rate fell by nearly 38 per cent.   But newborns and mothers – including adolescent…, Newborn and maternal mortality snapshot, Every day, some 7,000 babies die in the first month of life. In 2018, an estimated 2.5 million newborns died worldwide, and around 2.6 million babies were stillborn. Globally, about 810 women die each day from preventable complications related to pregnancy or childbirth. Every 15 minutes, a newborn perishes of neonatal tetanus. In 2017, neonatal…, UNICEF's response, All babies and mothers are entitled to affordable, high-quality health care before, during and after pregnancy. To make services accessible to all, UNICEF and partners adopted the Every Newborn Action Plan , a global road map to reduce newborn mortality.  As part of this commitment, UNICEF supports countries to provide essential packages of high-…, Results for newborns and mothers, As of September 2019, 47 out of 59 countries identified as high-risk for maternal and newborn tetanus had fully eliminated the disease.  Over 154 million women were immunized against tetanus between 1999 and September 2019.  52 countries with high neonatal and maternal mortality recorded 84 million live births in UNICEF-supported health facilities…, Resources, Levels and Trends in Child Mortality, 2019 This report from UNICEF and partners shows the full scope of child mortality rates across the world, as well as the progress made towards meeting Sustainable Development Goal targets. Every Child Alive: The Urgent Need to End Newborn Deaths Read more about what needs to be done to accelerate global…, More from UNICEF

NEW YORK, 1 August 2019 – From supporting healthy brain development in babies and young children, protecting infants against infection, decreasing the risk of obesity and disease, reducing healthcare costs, and protecting nursing mothers against ovarian cancer and breast cancer, the benefits of breastfeeding for children and mothers are wide…

The challenge, Children, newborns and mothers have a greater chance of surviving today than they did just two decades ago. Still, diseases like pneumonia, malaria and diarrhoea – along with pregnancy- and birth-related complications – claim the lives of millions of children and mothers every year. In 2018 alone, 6.2 million children under the age of 15 died –…, Resources, Levels and Trends in Child Mortality, 2019 This report from UNICEF and partners shows the full scope of child mortality rates across the world, as well as the progress made towards meeting Sustainable Development Goal targets. Every Child Alive: The Urgent Need to End Newborn Deaths Read more about what needs to be done to accelerate global…, UNICEF's response, UNICEF is committed to addressing the needs of mothers, newborns and children, and ensuring they have access to affordable, quality health care, good nutrition and clean water.  We work closely with Governments, partners and communities to combat common infectious childhood diseases and end preventable maternal, newborn and child deaths. And we…

Interpersonal violence affects the lives of millions of children across the world. Up to 50% of all children aged 2 to 17 years are thought to have been affected by a form of violence (physical, sexual or emotional abuse) in the past year – the equivalent of 1 billion children. Schools are in a unique position to address and prevent violence…, a SCHOOL-BASED VIOLENCE PREVENTION A practical handbook School-based violence prevention: a practical handbook ISBN 978-92-4-151554-2 © World Health Organization 2019 Some rights reserved. This work is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 IGO licence (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO; https://creativecommons.org/…

Read the latest on the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Joint statement from WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock, UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore, and World Food Programme Executive Director David Beasley NEW YORK/GENEVA/KINSHASA/DAKAR/ROME, 31 July 2019 – “Tomorrow, 1 August,…