Health: Every child has the right to survive and thrive.
Health:
Every child has the right to survive and thrive.
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Tremendous progress in child and maternal health has been achieved over the past decades. More infants today live to celebrate their fifth birthday, while fewer women lose their lives during pregnancy and childbirth.
But millions of women and children are still dying from causes that can be prevented with quality health care and strong health systems. Communicable and non-communicable diseases, mental health conditions, injuries, malnutrition, environmental hazards: All pose threats to children worldwide. Still, within and among countries, stark inequities persist when it comes to accessing live-saving care.
Women and children living in poverty, with a disability, or in an emergency setting are especially likely to be cut off from services they need to survive and thrive. And the risk of disease and malnutrition soars during conflict, natural disaster and other crises.
Through it all, demographic changes threaten to strain global health systems. Children in 2030 will live in a world that is older and more urban. With fertility rates dropping and life expectancies rising, more children and elderly people will be dependent on those in the workforce. At the same time, income growth will shift young people into wealthier, but not necessarily healthier, environments. Public health emergencies and those stemming from environmental causes are also expected to become more frequent.
What we do:
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| @UNICEF/UN0303596/Herwig |
Despite the scale of the challenge, solutions are in sight. Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals requires a global shift from treating diseases to strengthening health systems so that all children and women of reproductive age have access to affordable, quality health care.
UNICEF works around the world – including in some of the hardest-to-reach places – to help children grow up healthy and happy. Through public and private partnerships at the global, national and community levels, we focus on:
Maternal, newborn and child survival
UNICEF works to end preventable maternal, newborn and child deaths and stillbirths by scaling up essential maternal and newborn care, sustaining immunization programmes, and supporting preventive, promotive and curative services for pneumonia, diarrhoea, malaria and other child health conditions.
Child and adolescent health and well-being
UNICEF is committed to helping children and adolescents build a solid foundation for adulthood. We support national health plans on adolescent health and well-being, improve age-specific health services, and help countries combat non-communicable diseases, improve mental health, prevent injuries and better support children with developmental delays and disabilities.
UNICEF supports primary health care, especially at the community level, to help achieve universal health coverage. We work to strengthen health systems to deliver integrated services for children, adolescents and women of reproductive age – focusing on health, nutrition, early childhood development, HIV and AIDS, and WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene). Our work also promotes overall health and well-being by focusing on education, child protection and social inclusion.
UNICEF tackles health challenges in places affected by conflicts, natural disasters, migration, urbanization, and political and economic instability, by supporting direct responses to emergencies and helping to develop resilient health systems that can withstand crises.
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