The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has created a global and gendered crisis that is compounding existing inequalities and disproportionately affecting girls ...ighlight medbox">and women. Emerging evidence from the COVID-19 crisis in 2020 shows school closures, disruptions in essential services and rising poverty contributed to girls’ increased risk of female genital mutilation (FGM). School closures limited the monitoring and reporting of cases of FGM. Rising household monetary poverty may have contributed to families adopting negative coping mechanisms, including having girls undergo FGM as a precursor to marriage to reduce household costs. A report from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) estimates 2 million additional cases of FGM by 2030 due to the pandemic.
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An evidence-informed approach for non-formal, out-of-school CSE programmes that aims to reach young people from left-behind populations
This guidance is intended to assist anyone designing and/or implementing CSE in out-of-school settings, especial...ly in low- and middle-income countries. This includes international and national civil-society organizations, community-based organizations, government departments, UN agencies, health authorities, non-formal education authorities and youth development authorities. It is also intended for anyone else involved in the design, delivery and evaluation of sexuality education programmes out of school, especially those working with the specific groups of young people addressed in the guidance.
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Special Focus on COVID-19
The report provides updated estimates for drinking water, sanitation and hygiene in schools including progress from 2015 to 2019. It highlights the rapid improvement needed to ensure students have access to handwashing fac...ilities with soap and water during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to meet associated SDG targets by 2030.
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The Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) report – Progress on household drinking water, sanitation and hygiene 2000 - 2020 – presents estimates on household access to safely managed drinking water, sanitation ...ox">and hygiene services over the past five years, and assesses progress toward achieving the sixth sustainable development goal (SDG) to ‘Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all by 2030’.
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The report finds that, as of 3 November, in 87 countries with age-disaggregated data, children and adolescents under 20 years of age accounted for 1 in 9 of COVID-19 infections, or 11 per cent of the 25.7 million infections reported by these countri...es. More reliable, age-disaggregated data on infection, deaths and testing is needed to better understand how the crisis impacts the most vulnerable children and guide the response
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Many children will not be ‘safe to learn at home’: As of April 2020, 91 percent of the world’s students have been affected by school closures due to COVID-19. While schools are often places where violence occurs, they also offer a comparatively protective ...dbox">and nurturing space for many children. Especially for the most vulnerable learners -the poorest and most left behind- that rely on school not only for learning and development, but also for food, trusted and accurate information on important issues such as hygiene, and their overall physical and mental health.
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The document presents an assessment developed by both institutions as a contribution to the prioritization of education in national response plans to the health emergency and future recovery strategies. "Countries have deployed various response ...n class="attribute-to-highlight medbox">and recovery plans in which education needs to be incorporated as a central element," the report says, "not only to ensure an education response, but to achieve an equitable, inclusive and sustainable recovery”.
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The crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated preexisting structural economic inequalities, and had a disproportionate impact on informal workers, especially on women and young people, who ...lost jobs and income. The situation was even more difficult for single-parent households led by women, who also had to endure more housework and care tasks. As shown by various research studies, the asymmetric distribution of care tasks, taken up by women, is an inequality factor.
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In this article a cluster randomized cross-sectional survey, conducted in Albay Province in the Philippines in April 2016, was used to assess the prevalence of disability and access to support services. This was done with the purpose of generating ...representative data for local programme development. A cross-sectional survey was carried out with the WG/UNICEF methodology to examine the prevalence of disabilities, and the accessibility and coverage of relevant services. The aim is for this information to be used for public policy formulation at all levels, as well as to improve communication and advocacy on disabilities.
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As countries aim to progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and achieving universal health coverage, health inequities driven by racial discrimination and intersecting factors rema...in pervasive. Inequities experienced by indigenous peoples as well as people of African descent, Roma and other ethnic minorities are of concern globally; they are unjust, preventable and remediable.
Health systems themselves are important determinants of health and health equity. They can perpetuate health inequities by reflecting structural racism and discriminatory practices of wider society. For instance, systemic racism, implicit bias, misinformed clinical practice, or discrimination by health professionals contributes to health inequities. However, health systems can also be a leading force for tackling the inequities faced by populations experiencing racial discrimination.
Primary health care (PHC) is the essential strategy for reorientating health systems and societies to become healthier, equitable, effective and sustainable. In 2018, on the 40th anniversary of the Declaration of Alma-Ata, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) renewed the emphasis on PHC with their strategy,
WHO outlines 14 strategic and operational levers for policy-makers to strengthen PHC. Within each lever, there are multiple potential entry points for targeted actions to address racial discrimination, foster intercultural care, and reduce health inequities experienced by indigenous peoples as well as people of African descent, Roma and other ethnic minorities.
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Paper commissioned for Fixing the Broken Promise of Education for All: Findings from the Global Initiative on Out-of-School Children
The full range and scale of all forms of violence against children are only now becoming visible, as is the evidence of the harm it does. This book documents the outcomes and recommendations of the ...process of the United Nations Secretary-General’s Study on Violence against Children. ‘The Study’ is the first comprehensive, global study on all forms of violence against children.
It builds on the model of the study on the impact of armed conflict on children, prepared by Graça Machel and presented to the General Assembly in 1996, and follows the World Health Organization’s 2002 World Report on Violence and Health.1
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1 in 3 countries are not taking action to help students catch up on their learning post-COVID-19 school closures