Sometimes someone says something and it hits with such impact that hours, days, years later the phrase still swirls around in your head. “The doctors told us we shouldn’t get too attached to our baby. They said he was essentially a potato – a potato that had been badly cooked. Imagine a defect at the factory, your baby is a… Read more →←
Topic: Big picture
How does a country improve HIV and sexual and reproductive health progress for adolescents? We may think it is tech innovation or new celebrity voices or novel social media. But in fact, it is much simpler. Analysis and planning will accelerate progress for adolescent health. Although Rwanda has high coverage of HIV services, the… Read more →←
Six girls – 16-17 years old – are currently being held 9.6 miles from the UN Headquarters at Rikers Island. These teenagers wake up not knowing how long until they will be tried or sentenced. Gigi Blanchard leads a biweekly writing workshop with these young women. “With my men’s and women’s classes, they all know their future,… Read more →←
It’s unclear who first invented the toilet. Early contenders include an ancient settlement in Scotland dating back to 3000 B.C. and a palace on Crete that was built around 1700 B.C. Fast forward to today: around 60% of the world – 4.5 billion people – don’t have a toilet or similar facility that safely manages human… Read more →←
I was seven months old when my mother took me to see a doctor in Suran, my hometown. I had a high fever, and she had noticed weakness in both my legs. It was then that I was diagnosed with polio. Polio is a highly contagious disease that attacks the nervous system. It can cause paralysis or even death among young children. While the… Read more →←
In the first few seconds of life, a newborn baby should be delivered and held in clean hands. As a baby enters the world, one of the simplest ways we can protect them is to make sure they are delivered in a clean environment. New mothers are also vulnerable, and require the same cleanliness to reduce the risk of disease and infection.… Read more →←
Landslides in Sierra Leone, flooding in South Asia, earthquakes in Mexico, and hurricanes in and around the Caribbean: On today’s International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction, there is no shortage of reminders of the increasing risks posed by ‘natural’ disasters. The myth that disasters are ‘natural’ and therefore… Read more →←
Let’s prove to the world that young people are key to combatting climate change. Join us for our global Climate Comic Contest! – inspiring children and youth to take climate action through creativity! BOOM! From today until 22 October UNICEF is asking young people up to 25 years old to come up with their own superhero whose… Read more →←
This morning, we leave the green and fertile region of Sikasso in southern Mali, to visit communities and report on the exemplary experience of Yorosso – a district which has reduced rates of chronic malnutrition by nearly half in just two years. UNICEF Nutrition Specialist Bienfait M’Mbakwa Eca talks to me in the car about the… Read more →←
My volunteer work over the past year has allowed me to work with refugee children from 21 countries worldwide as an academic and personal mentor at a shelter in London. Through this I have seen firsthand the challenges children and young people face when they are forced to flee their homes. 1. Mental Health: “I don’t feel so good.”… Read more →←
