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	Children continue to face wildly differentiating chances of survival based on where they are born by UN Inter-Agency Group for Child Mortality   May 2023   Global progress in reducing deaths of pregnant women, mothers and babies has flatlined for eight years due to decreasing investments in maternal and newborn health, according to a new report from the United Nations (UN).   The report shows that over 4.5 million women and babies die every year during pregnancy, childbirth or the first weeks after birth - equivalent to 1 death happening every 7 seconds - mostly from preventable or treatable causes if proper care was available.   “Pregnant women and newborns continue to die at unacceptably high rates worldwide, and the COVID-19 pandemic has created further setbacks to providing them with the healthcare they need,” said Dr Anshu Banerjee, Director of Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health and Ageing at the World Health Organization (WHO). “If we wish to see different results, we must do things differently. More and smarter investments in primary healthcare are needed now so that every woman and baby - no matter where they live - has the best chance of health and survival.”   The report, Improving maternal and newborn health and survival and reducing stillbirth, assesses the latest data on these deaths - which have similar risk factors and causes - and tracks the provision of critical health services. Overall, the report shows that progress in improving survival has stagnated since 2015, with around 290 000 maternal deaths each year, 1.9 million stillbirths – babies who die after 28 weeks of pregnancy – and a staggering 2.3 million newborn deaths, which are deaths in the first month of life.   The COVID-19 pandemic, rising poverty, and worsening humanitarian crises have intensified pressures on stretched health systems. Since 2018, more than three-quarters of all conflict-affected and Sub-Saharan African countries report declining funding for maternal and newborn health. Just 1 in 10 countries (of more than 100 surveyed) report having sufficient funds to implement their current plans. Moreover, according to the latest WHO survey on the pandemic’s impacts on essential health services, around a quarter of countries still report ongoing disruptions to vital pregnancy and postnatal care and services for sick children.   “As is too often the case, vulnerability, fear, and loss are not spread equally around the world,” said Steven Lauwerier, UNICEF Director of Health. “Since the COVID-19 pandemic, babies, children and women who were already exposed to threats to their well-being, especially those living in fragile countries and emergencies, are facing the heaviest consequences of decreased spending and efforts on providing quality and accessible healthcare.”   Funding shortfalls and underinvestment in primary healthcare can devastate survival prospects. For instance, while prematurity is now the leading cause of all under-five deaths globally, less than a third of countries report having sufficient newborn care units to treat small and sick babies.   Meanwhile, around two thirds of emergency childbirth facilities in sub-Saharan Africa are not considered fully functional – meaning they lack essential resources like medicines and supplies, water, electricity or staffing for 24-hour care.   In the worst-affected countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and Central and Southern Asia – the regions with the greatest burden of newborn and maternal deaths - fewer than 60% of women receive even four, of WHO’s recommended eight, antenatal checks.   "The death of any woman or young girl during pregnancy or childbirth is a serious violation of their human rights,” said Dr Julitta Onabanjo, Director of the Technical Division at the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).   “It also reflects the urgent need to scale-up access to quality sexual and reproductive health services as part of universal health coverage and primary health care, especially in communities where maternal mortality rates have stagnated or even risen during recent years.   We must take a human rights and gender transformative approach to address maternal and newborn mortality, and it is vital that we stamp out the underlying factors which give rise to poor maternal health outcomes like socio-economic inequalities, discrimination, poverty and injustice".   To increase survival rates, women and babies must have quality, affordable healthcare before, during and after childbirth, the agencies say, as well as access to family planning services. More skilled and motivated health workers, especially midwives, are needed, alongside essential medicines and supplies, safe water, and reliable electricity.   The report stresses that interventions should especially target the poorest women and those in vulnerable situations who are most likely to miss out on lifesaving care – including through critical subnational planning and investments.   Improving maternal and newborn health further requires addressing harmful gender norms, biases and inequalities. Recent data show that only about 60% of women aged 15-49 years make their own decisions regarding sexual and reproductive health and rights.   Based on current trends, more than 60 countries are not set to meet the maternal, newborn and stillborn mortality reduction targets in the UN Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.   http://www.who.int/news/item/09-05-2023-global-progress-in-tackling-maternal-and-newborn-deaths-stalls-since-2015--un   Jan. 2023   An estimated 5 million children died before their fifth birthday and another 2.1 million children and youth aged between 5–24 years lost their lives in 2021, according to the latest estimates released by the United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME).   In a separate report also released today, the group found that 1.9 million babies were stillborn during the same period. Tragically, many of these deaths could have been prevented with equitable access and high-quality maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health care.   “Every day, far too many parents are facing the trauma of losing their children, sometimes even before their first breath,” said Vidhya Ganesh, UNICEF Director of the Division of Data Analytics, Planning and Monitoring. “Such widespread, preventable tragedy should never be accepted as inevitable. Progress is possible with stronger political will and targeted investment in equitable access to primary health care for every woman and child.”   The reports show some positive outcomes with a lower risk of death across all ages globally since 2000. The global under-five mortality rate fell by 50 per cent since the start of the century, while mortality rates in older children and youth dropped by 36 per cent, and the stillbirth rate decreased by 35 per cent. This can be attributed to more investments in strengthening primary health systems to benefit women, children and young people.   However, gains have reduced significantly since 2010, and 54 countries will fall short of meeting the Sustainable Development Goals target for under-five mortality. If swift action is not taken to improve health services, warn the agencies, almost 59 million children and youth will die before 2030, and nearly 16 million babies will be lost to stillbirth.   “It is grossly unjust that a child’s chances of survival can be shaped just by their place of birth, and that there are such vast inequities in their access to lifesaving health services,” said Dr Anshu Banerjee, Director for Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health and Ageing at the World Health Organization (WHO). “Children everywhere need strong primary health care systems that meet their needs and those of their families, so that – no matter where they are born – they have the best start and hope for the future.”   Children continue to face wildly differentiating chances of survival based on where they are born, with sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia shouldering the heaviest burden, the reports show. Though sub-Saharan Africa had just 29 per cent of global live births, the region accounted for 56 per cent of all under-five deaths in 2021, and Southern Asia for 26 per cent of the total. Children born in sub-Saharan Africa are subject to the highest risk of childhood death in the world – 15 times higher than the risk for children in Europe and Northern America.   Mothers in these two regions also endure the painful loss of babies to stillbirth at an exceptional rate, with 77 per cent of all stillbirths in 2021 occurring in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Nearly half of all stillbirths happened in sub-Saharan Africa. The risk of a woman having a stillborn baby in sub-Saharan Africa is seven times more likely than in Europe and North America.   “Behind these numbers are millions of children and families who are denied their basic rights to health,” said Juan Pablo Uribe, Global Director for Health, Nutrition and Population, World Bank and Director of the Global Financing Facility. “We need political will and leadership for sustained financing for primary health care which is one of the best investments countries and development partners can make.”   Access to and availability of quality health care continues to be a matter of life or death for children globally. Most child deaths occur in the first five years, of which half are within the very first month of life. For these youngest babies, premature birth and complications during labour are the leading causes of death. Similarly, more than 40 per cent of stillbirths occur during labour – most of which are preventable when women have access to quality care throughout pregnancy and birth. For children that survive past their first 28 days, infectious diseases like pneumonia, diarrhoea and malaria pose the biggest threat.   While COVID-19 has not directly increased childhood mortality – with children facing a lower likelihood of dying from the disease than adults – the pandemic may have increased future risks to their survival. In particular, the reports highlight concerns around disruptions to vaccination campaigns, nutrition services, and access to primary health care, which could jeopardize their health and well-being for many years to come. In addition, the pandemic has fuelled the largest continued backslide in vaccinations in three decades, putting the most vulnerable newborns and children at greater risk of dying from preventable diseases.   The reports also note gaps in data, which could critically undermine the impact of policies and programmes designed to improve childhood survival and well-being.   http://www.who.int/news/item/10-01-2023-a-child-or-youth-died-once-every-4.4-seconds-in-2021---un-report http://news.un.org/en/story/2023/01/1132187 http://data.unicef.org/resources/levels-and-trends-in-child-mortality/   Dec. 2021   The world remains significantly off track to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on ending the preventable deaths of newborns and children under five, according to the latest estimates released by the United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME).   UN IGME is convened by UNICEF and includes the World Health Organization, the World Bank Group and the United Nations Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs.   According to the report, more than 50 countries will not meet the under-five mortality target by 2030, and more than 60 countries will miss the neonatal mortality target without immediate action. The SDGs call for an end to preventable deaths of newborns and children under age 5, with all countries aiming to have a neonatal mortality rate of 12 or fewer deaths per 1,000 live births, and an under-five mortality rate of 25 or fewer deaths per 1,000 live births, by 2030.   The report states that more than 5 million children died before their fifth birthday in 2020 alone, along with 2.2 million children and youth aged 5 to 24.   “We are still losing too many young lives from largely preventable causes, often because of weak and underfunded health systems which have faced enormous pressure over the pandemic. And the burden of these deaths is not carried equally around the world. Children in sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia continue to face the highest risk of death in the world, and to bear the brunt of this child mortality burden,” said Mark Hereward, UNICEF’s Associate Director on Data and Analytics.   “If we are going to achieve the child mortality SDGs in all countries, we must redouble efforts to ensure access to effective and high-quality care along with the continued expansion of coverage of life-saving interventions.”   The UN IGME report also said that recent and reliable data on child, adolescent and youth mortality remains unavailable for most countries of the world, particularly for low-income countries. Only about 60 countries, mainly high-income, have a well-functioning Civil Registration and Vital Statistics System which produces timely, high-quality mortality data.   In low- and middle-income countries, huge data gaps remain – two thirds (97 out of 135 countries) have had no reliable mortality data in the past 3 years. Likewise, the COVID-19 pandemic posed more challenges to data collection and highlighted the urgent need to fill data gaps.   “Countries must invest in quality health services, nutrition, and other life-saving interventions for women and children to ensure the hard-won gains in combating child mortality are not lost and to meet the SDGs,” the report underlines.   Investments in global health should strengthen all elements of global healthcare infrastructure, including leaving a lasting impact on data and primary health systems to help end preventable child deaths.   “Intensified efforts are needed to deliver quality health care services for all children and adolescents, which also means collecting the necessary data to ensure that their physical, developmental and emotional needs are being met throughout their life,” said Dr Anshu Banerjee, Director of Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health and Ageing at the World Health Organization (WHO).   “Investing in children is one of the most important things a society can do to build a better future.”   http://reliefweb.int/report/world/levels-and-trends-child-mortality-report-2021 http://www.thelancet.com/series/optimising-child-adolescent-health Visit the related web page
	One in three children globally face double threat of high climate risk and crushing poverty by Save the Children, Coalition to End Child Poverty   Jan. 2023   “We are the most affected”: Why children’s voices must be at the heart of the hunger crisis response. (Save the Children)   The worst global food crisis in decades is putting millions of children’s lives on the line, fuelled by conflict, displacement, climate shocks, and the fallout of COVID-19.   As many as 60 million children under five were acutely malnourished by the end of 2022. Our new brief includes powerful insights from children from 32 countries, from Afghanistan to Somalia, on how hunger is impacting their lives, families and communities, as well as recommendations for tackling the hunger crisis.   Save the Children calls on world leaders to place children at the heart of the hunger crisis response by:   Urgently scaling up humanitarian funding to address the immediate needs of children. Committing to long-term measures to tackle the underlying drivers of malnutrition and food insecurity, and to deliver on international agreements and declarations on hunger and famine prevention.   http://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/document/we-are-the-most-affected/   Oct. 2022   An estimated 774 million children across the world – or one third of the world’s child population - are living with the dual impacts of poverty and high climate risk, according to a new report by Save the Children.   The country with the highest percentage of children impacted by this double burden is South Sudan (87%), followed by the Central African Republic (85%) and Mozambique (80%).   Generation Hope: 2.4 billion reasons to end the global climate and inequality crisis, developed by the child rights organisation with climate modelling from researchers at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), found that while 80% of children are estimated to be affected by at least one extreme climate event a year, some are at particular risk because they also face poverty and so have less capacity to protect themselves and recover.   The analysis revealed that India has the highest total number of children both living in poverty and bearing the brunt of the climate crisis — up to 223 million children in total. It is followed by Nigeria and Ethiopia, with 58 million and 36 million children, respectively, living with this double burden.   A significant number of children – 121 million – experiencing the double threat of high climate risk and poverty live in higher income countries, with 28 million of them in the world’s most affluent countries. More than two out of five of these children (12.3 million) live in the US or the UK.   In addition, across the globe, 183 million children face the triple threat of high climate risk, poverty and conflict. Out of the total child population experiencing this triple burden, the children in Burundi (63%), Afghanistan (55%) and the Central African Republic (41%) are the most affected.   Save the Children says the climate and inequality crisis is a risk-multiplier, eroding children’s and communities’ resilience to shocks. If it is not urgently addressed, the frequency and severity of humanitarian and cost of living crises are set to increase in the years ahead.   Drawing on insights from the 54,000 children Save the Children heard from in a major consultation conducted between May and August 2022, the report also shows how these multiple, overlapping risks are linked to and exacerbate the current global food, nutrition and cost of living crisis that is causing 345 million people in 82 countries to face a severe lack of food.   Luciano, 12, lives in a displacement camp in Malawi. His family lost their home after cyclone Ana ripped through the island where they lived. His family climbed out of the house and onto a tree, but Luciano’s younger brother was washed away by the floods. Luciano said:   “We moved to the camp because water flooded on the other side of the river and it surprised us at night, when we were sleeping. Our ducks begun getting out of the house including our chickens. They all started being pushed in circles by the waters. We tried to save the ducks and the chickens, but all we managed to save was a few of our clothes. We tried to save more items, but we couldn’t. My little brother was on top of the house. Whilst he was on top, the house collapsed, and suddenly he was gone.”   “At the camp we do not eat enough food. When I used to live on the other side of the river, I was not like this. Now I have lost some weight. But I have hope and I would like to live the life I lived before the floods, again.”   “I am always anxious that the floods will hit again because when they hit last time, they created a stream near our house that can easily flood when it rains.”   Inger Ashing, CEO of Save the Children International, said:   “Across the world, inequalities are deepening the climate emergency and its impacts, most notably for children and low-income households.   “Given the scale of the challenge, it would be easy to fall into despair. But we cannot, we must dig deep into our reserves of hope for a greener and more just world. We must work to end the climate and inequality crisis and push for the protection and fulfilment of children’s rights.   “Governments', in particular, the world’s richest countries, whose historic emissions have driven the climate and inequality crisis, must lead the way in unlocking financing for countries that are struggling to protect children from its impacts, including through fixing the global debt relief system and through climate finance - particularly for adaptation and loss and damage”.   This new report builds on ground-breaking research published by Save the Children in partnership with Vrije Universiteit Brussel in 2021, which found that children born in 2020 will on average face seven times more scorching heatwaves during their lives than their grandparents, and newborns across the globe will on average live through 2.6 times more droughts.   The report comes as families across the world battle the worst global hunger crisis this century, fuelled by a deadly mix of poverty, conflict, climate change, and economic shocks, with the lingering impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the crisis in Ukraine further driving up food prices and the cost of living. One million people are facing famine across five countries, with estimates that one person is dying every four seconds of hunger.   http://www.savethechildren.net/news/report-one-three-children-globally-face-double-threat-high-climate-risk-and-crushing-poverty http://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/document/generation-hope-2-4-billion-reasons-to-end-the-global-climate-and-inequality-crisis/   Oct 2022   Ending Child Poverty: A Policy Agenda, by the Global Coalition to End Child Poverty   This brief highlights the urgency of tackling child poverty and the growing vulnerability of many children around the world due to the COVID-19 pandemic, climate crisis, conflict, and economic instability.   The brief reviews the latest data regarding child poverty and highlights best practices in tackling child poverty. It draws on evidence and the experience of over 20 organizations working together in the Global Coalition to End Child Poverty.   It outlines key building blocks for how countries can address child poverty and offers evidence and experience to support national discussion on the best policy options for children.   Build national support by ensuring that reducing child poverty is an explicit national priority. Expand child-sensitive social protection. Improve access to quality public services, especially for the poorest children. Promote decent work and inclusive growth agenda to reach families and children in poverty.   The building blocks are discussed as an entry point to identify the types of policies that can help overcome child poverty and its impacts.   http://www.endchildhoodpoverty.org/publications-feed/2022/10/11/briefing-paper   * Are countries committed to ending child poverty by 2030? A review of countries Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs) to the United Nations High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF); reports from 2017 to 2022.   http://www.endchildhoodpoverty.org/publications-feed/2021/10/15/briefing-paper-edp4t http://www.endchildhoodpoverty.org/child-poverty-news-blogs   How urban fragility, climate change, gender inequality and social exclusion are driving children deeper into extreme vulnerability. (World Vision)   Humanity is on the move. Driven from their rural homes by conflict and climate change, people are heading to the cities in a mass migration that is changing the landscape of poverty. Today the world’s most vulnerable children aren’t just in remote villages or active war zones. Increasingly, they are hidden in places you won’t hear about on the news. Forgotten places where no one wants to live. On the outskirts of the city. Along drainage channels and train lines. Next to waste dumps. In the margins. And they are more vulnerable than ever.   http://www.wvi.org/urban-work/quadruple-threat   Oct. 2022   New Unicef report finds that in even best-case scenario 2 billion children will face four to five dangerous heat events annually by 2050.   The climate crisis is also a children’s rights crisis: one in four children globally are already affected by the climate emergency and by 2050 virtually every child in every region will face more frequent heatwaves, according to a new Unicef report.   For hundreds of millions of children, heatwaves will also last longer and be more extreme, increasing the threat of death, disease, hunger and forced migration.   The findings come less than a fortnight before the Cop27 UN climate talks get underway in Egypt, and after a catastrophic year of extreme weather events – heatwaves, storms, floods, fires and droughts – have demonstrated the speed and magnitude of the climate breakdown facing the planet.   According to Unicef, 559 million children currently endure at least four to five dangerous heatwaves annually, but the number will quadruple to 2 billion by 2050 – even if global heating is curtailed to 1.7 degrees, currently the best-case scenario on the table.   In the worst-case scenario – a 2.4-degree rise caused by burning too many fossil fuels for too long – an estimated 94% of children will be exposed to prolonged heatwaves lasting at least 4.7 days by 2050 compared with one in four children right now.   Children and infants are less able to regulate their body temperature, making them more vulnerable to the pervasive impacts of extreme and prolonged heat than adults. This includes a myriad of health problems such as asthma, cardiovascular diseases and even death.   Additionally, as intense heat exacerbates drought, it can also reduce access to food and water, which can stunt development and increase exposure to violence and conflict if families are forced to migrate. Studies have also shown that extreme heat negatively affects children’s concentration and learning abilities.   “While the full force of the climate crisis will take some time to materialise, for heatwaves it is just around the corner and looking incredibly grim,” said Nicholas Rees, the Unicef environment and climate expert.   Unicef’s report, The Coldest Year of the Rest of Their Lives, is a call to action for political leaders who continue to dither and pander to big business interests, even though the past seven years have been the hottest on record.   From the polar regions to the tropics, dangerous heatwaves are increasing in frequency, duration and magnitude, and already kill almost half a million people each year.   This year alone, heatwaves in China dried up rivers and damaged crops, while temperatures hit 48C (118F) in Pakistan before unprecedented rains left a third of the country underwater. Record-breaking temperatures throughout Europe led to tens of thousands of preventable deaths and drastically reduced crop yields, while more than 100 million Americans were under heat advisories over the summer. In Africa drought and failed rains have dramatically impacted the lives of some 50 million people. The hotter the planet gets, the more catastrophic will be the consequences.   “The climate shocks of 2022 provide a strong wakeup call about the increasing danger hurtling towards us,” said Vanessa Nakate, climate activist and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. “Heatwaves are a clear example. As hot as this year has been in almost every corner of the world, it will likely be the coldest year of the rest of our lives. The dial is being turned up on our planet and yet our world leaders haven’t begun to sweat. The only option is for us to continue to turn up the heat - on them - to correct the course we are on. World leaders must do this at COP27 for children everywhere, but especially the most vulnerable children in the most affected places. Unless they take action, and soon, this report makes it clear that heatwaves will become even harsher than they are already destined to be.”   Given that within three decades virtually every child will be exposed to extreme heat even under the best-case fossil fuel reduction pledges, Unicef is calling on governments to cut emissions faster and further, and help communities prepare for what is coming.   “We have to expand funding for adaptation as the impact depends on the coping capacities of families and communities … Having access to shelter, water and air conditioning will mean life or death,” Rees said.   “The mercury is rising and so are the impacts on children,” UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said. “Already, 1 in 3 children live in countries that face extreme high temperatures and almost 1 in 4 children are exposed to high heatwave frequency, and it is only going to get worse. More children will be impacted by longer, hotter and more frequent heatwaves over the next thirty years, threatening their health and wellbeing. How devastating these changes will be depends on the actions we take now. At a minimum, governments must urgently limit global heating to 1.5 degrees Celsius and double adaptation funding by 2025. This is the only way to save children’s lives and futures – and the future of the planet.”   Heatwaves are especially damaging to children, as they are less able to regulate their body temperature compared to adults. The more heatwaves children are exposed to, the greater the chance of health problems including chronic respiratory conditions, asthma, and cardiovascular diseases. Babies and young children are at the greatest risk of heat-related mortality.   Heatwaves can also affect children’s environments, their safety, nutrition and access to water, and their education and future livelihood.   The report found high heatwave duration currently impacts 538 million, or 23 per cent of, children globally. This will rise to 1.6 billion children in 2050 at 1.7 degrees warming, and to at least 1.9 billion children at 2.4 degrees warming, emphasising the importance of urgent and dramatic emissions mitigation and adaptation measures to contain global heating and protect lives.   Millions more children will be exposed to high heatwave severity and extreme high temperatures depending on the degree of global heating reached. To avoid climate catastrophe we must drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions and keep to 1.5 degrees Celsius warming pledge.   Yet alarmingly, greenhouse gas emissions are projected to rise by 14% this decade, putting us on a path to catastrophic global heating. All governments must revisit their national climate plans and policies to increase ambition and action. They must cut emissions by at least 45% by 2030 to keep heating to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius.   http://www.unicef.org/press-releases/heatwaves-report http://www.unicef.org/reports/coldest-year-rest-of-their-lives-children-heatwaves http://news.un.org/en/story/2022/10/1129852 http://www.unicef-irc.org/ Visit the related web page
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