Photo essay

Five ways UNICEF supports adolescent girls’ wellbeing and health

Discover UNICEF supplies and services that strengthen adolescent girls and provide them a safe environment to learn and thrive.

UNICEF

Two smiling adolescent girls in a class activity with their classmates in the background. — UNICEF/UN0802723/Sohail

08 March 2024

Equipped with resources and opportunities to fulfil their potential, the world’s 600 million adolescent girls can become a generation of female change-makers. But most adolescent girls around the word live in poverty, without access to basic services, and face disproportionate discrimination and inequality.

Delivering supplies and services that promote adolescent girls’ health and safety is one of the ways UNICEF works for a gender-equal world where girls and boys enjoy the same rights, resources and opportunities.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine

A woman wearing gloves and a surgical cap vaccinates a teenage girl. — UNICEF/U.S. CDC/Unique In Peru, 12-year-old Jossi Inuma is vaccinated against the papillomavirus by nurse Maribel Vilela Grandez, who works for the UNICEF-supported health brigade. The brigade visits communities in Loreto to provide routine childhood vaccinations, maternal health care and other essential health services.

Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer in women, causing more than 300,000 deaths yearly, mainly in low- and middle-income countries.

More than 95 per cent of cervical cancer cases are caused by the human papillomavirus, and these can be prevented by a safe and effective vaccine. Studies have shown an almost 90 per cent reduction in cervical cancer in girls who received the vaccine. UNICEF procures HPV vaccines on behalf of 52 countries.

"Before, I had heard false rumours about the HPV vaccine and I was reluctant. Now I took it because I want to live a long time and I don't want to get sick and die from HPV infections."

12-year-old Miheret, from Ethiopia, after she received her HPV vaccination.

A smiling adolescent girl holding a book note and behind her another adolescent girl is being vaccinated. — UNICEF/UN0839555/Pouget

Hygiene products

An adolescent girl sitting on the floor with her hands on her knees. — UNICEF/UNI520230/El Baba

“I was displaced with my family from Gaza City to the city of Rafah in the south of Gaza. I was unable to bring all my belongings with me. This package will help me keep my personal hygiene much better.”

Alma, a 12-year-old girl who received a package of UNICEF’s hygiene products during the war.

Millions of girls and women are unable to manage their menstrual cycle in a dignified and healthy manner. This has far-reaching consequences as it restricts their mobility and personal choices, affecting school attendance and participation in social life. These challenges are particularly acute in humanitarian crises.

A smiling adolescent girl shows a reusable cloth pad. — UNICEF/UN0839567/Pouget

"I used to stay home for up to seven days when I was on my period, missing classes,” says Workalem Weshkaro, from Ethiopia.

Things changed for 16-year-old Workalem when UNICEF opened a menstrual hygiene management room at her school. There girls can rest, wash and receive menstrual counselling and sanitary pads and soaps.

Menstrual health and hygiene interventions, including access to supplies, can help overcome these obstacles. UNICEF procures and delivers various kinds of hygiene and menstrual hygiene products as part of its commitment to improve access to materials and facilities to ensure that adolescent girls and all menstruating individuals can manage their menstruation safely and with dignity.

Three adolescent-girl students are sitting with reusable sanitary pads in their hands. — UNICEF/UNI427626/Rutherford Musime Jessica Mayora (left), Hosanna Marium (centre), Masika Pravda (right) with reusable sanitary pads they received as part of a project run with UNICEF’s support at Nyabugando Baptist Vocational College, in Uganda.

Water supply

An adolescent girl pumps out water from a hand pump. — UNICEF/UNI497744/Ahmed Lali, 18 years old, is happy with the water pump installed by UNICEF in the village of Mir Jan Muhammad, Mirpurkhas, Sindh, Pakistan. UNICEF and partners have enabled access to safe water for more than 1.7 million people in areas where water networks were damaged or destroyed by the catastrophic floods that hit Pakistan in 2022.

Women and girls aged 15 and older are primarily responsible for water collection in 7 out of 10 households without supply. Girls under 15 are also more likely than boys under 15 to fetch water. In most cases, women and girls make long journeys to collect water, losing time from education, work and leisure, and putting themselves at risk of injury and dangers on the route.

“I used to walk one hour to bring water and had to stand in the queue for one or two hours to get water. I would feel tired and could not find time for my school assignments.”

Zahra, 10 years old, from Afghanistan.

While crouching down, a girl washes her hands at an outdoor tap. — UNICEF/UN0630126/Sherzai Zahra, 10, washes her hands at a new water tap installed near her home in Hewad Mena Village, Maidan Wardak Province, Afghanistan. UNICEF completed a solar-powered water supply network in Zahra’s village, and it now supplies clean water to more than 500 families.

UNICEF works to ensure that more communities gain access to water services that are safe, sustainable and able to withstand climate change, conflict and natural disasters. This work includes the installation of man-powered water pumps and the construction of solar-powered supply systems.

An adolescent girl collects clean water at a new water station. — UNICEF/UNI500202/Mohamdeen Madina Mohamed Awad, 7 years old, collects clean water at a new water station in the village of Gelhanty in Agig locality, Red Sea state, Sudan. UNICEF constructed a solar-powered system that supplies safe water for communities in the village. Previously, the village’s only source of water was a contaminated creek shared with animals.

Gender-inclusive toilets in schools

A girl smiles while washes her hands in a white sink. — UNICEF/UN0781522/ALfilastini A student washes her hands in Fatima Al Zahra Primary and Secondary School restrooms in Khanfir District, Abyan Governorate, Yemen. UNICEF created safer and more comfortable learning environments for girls in Yemen by improving access to clean water and sanitation facilities, cleaning supplies to staff, and training teachers and students on proper hygiene practices.

Globally, millions of girls and women still lack adequate facilities for menstrual hygiene management. Lack of proper sanitary facilities can affect school attendance among adolescent girls, which can have severe costs on their lives. The lack of separate toilets with doors that can be safely closed or of ways to dispose of used sanitary pads and water to wash hands, means that women and girls face challenges in keeping their menstrual hygiene in a private, safe and dignified manner.

UNICEF’s construction projects aim to reduce the key barriers to girls’ education through building gender-sensitive water, sanitation and hygiene facilities.

A group of five students walk by a blue-painted building. — UNICEF/UNI408036/Karimi A group of students walk by the newly constructed latrines at Mawlana Jalaluddin Mohammad Balkhi School in Mazar-i-Sharīf, Balkh Province, Afghanistan. UNICEF built latrines and handwashing facilities with pumps powered by solar energy at the school and educates girls and boys about the importance of personal hygiene.

Safe environments in the High-Performance Tents

A smiling adolescent girl with school colleagues sitting behind her in a tent. — UNICEF/UNI502671/Mohamdeen 14-year-old Shaimaa Abd Al-Malik at the UNICEF-supported Makana at El Gox gathering point in Kosti, White Nile state, Sudan. In High Performance Tents provided by UNICEF, more than 300 girls and boys aged 3 to 18 years enjoy learning and play activities.

Armed conflict, natural disasters and humanitarian emergencies can drastically weaken a society’s ability to protect women and girls from gender-based violence. UNICEF works worldwide to prevent and respond to gender-based violence in emergencies. Creating spaces where girls and women can gain access to education, critical information, care and protection is one way UNICEF works to prevent and respond to gender-based violence in emergencies.