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Countries pledge to act on childhood violence affecting some 1 billion children

WHO news - 3 hours 54 min ago

More than 100 governments today made historic commitments to end childhood violence, including nine pledging to ban corporal punishment – an issue that affects 3 out of every 5 children regularly in their homes. These commitments were made at a landmark event in Bogotá, Colombia, where government delegations are set to agree on a new global declaration aimed at protecting children from all kinds of violence, exploitation and abuse.

Also at the event, which is hosted by the Governments of Colombia and Sweden together with the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF and the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children, several countries committed to improve services for childhood violence survivors or tackle bullying, while others said they would invest in critical parenting support – one of the most effective interventions for reducing violence risks in the home.

“Despite being highly preventable, violence remains a horrific day to day reality for millions of children around the world – leaving scars that span generations,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General.  “Today countries made critical pledges that, once enacted, could finally turn the tide on childhood violence. From establishing lifechanging support for families to making schools safer places or tackling online abuse, these actions will be fundamental to protecting children from lasting harm and ill health.”

Over half of all children globally – some 1 billion – are estimated to suffer some form of violence, such as child maltreatment (including corporal punishment, the most prevalent form of childhood violence), bullying, physical or emotional abuse, as well as sexual violence.  Violence against children is often hidden, mostly occurs behind closed doors, and is vastly underreported. WHO estimates that fewer than half of affected children tell anyone they experienced violence and under 10% receive any help.

Such violence not only constitutes a grave violation of children’s rights but also increases the risk of immediate and long-term health issues. For some children, violence results in death or serious injury. Every 13 minutes, a child or adolescent dies as a result of homicide – equating to around 40 000 preventable deaths each year. For others, experiencing violence has devastating and life-long consequences. These include anxiety and depression, risky behaviours like unsafe sex, smoking and substance abuse, and reduced academic achievement.

Evidence shows that violence against children is preventable, with the health sector having a critical role to play. Proven solutions include parenting support to help caregivers avoid violent discipline and build positive relationships with their children; school-based interventions to strengthen life and social skills for children and adolescents, and prevent bullying; child-friendly social and health services for children that experience violence; laws that prohibit violence against children and reduce underlying risk factors such as access to alcohol and guns, and efforts to ensure safer internet use for children. Research has shown that when countries effectively implement such strategies, they can reduce violence against children by as much as 20-50%.

In line with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the first global targets for ending violence against children were established in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. Progress in reducing overall prevalence of childhood violence has however been slow, despite gains in some individual countries. Around 9 in 10 children still live in countries where prevalent forms of childhood violence such as corporal punishment, or even sexual abuse and exploitation, are not yet prohibited by law.

Over 1000 people are attending this first-ever Ministerial Conference on Violence against Children, including high-level government delegations, children, young people, survivor and civil society allies.

Specific pledges at the event include among others, commitments to end physical punishment, to introduce new digital safety initiatives, increase the legally permitted age of marriage and to invest in parenting education and child protection. WHO provides significant support for efforts to end childhood violence, through technical guidance, guiding effective strategies for prevention and response, and conducting new research and data, including its global status reports. 

Key statistics
  • Over half of all children aged 2-17 – more than 1 billion – experience some form of violence each year.
  • Around 3 in 5 children are regularly punished by physical means in their homes.
  • 1 in 5 girls and 1 in 7 boys experience sexual violence.
  • Between 25% and 50% children are estimated to have experienced bullying.
  • For adolescent males, violence – often involving firearms or other weapons - is now the leading cause of death. 
Notable pledges
  • Eight countries pledged to pursue legislation against corporal punishment in all settings  – Burundi, Czechia, Gambia, Kyrgyzstan, Panama, Sri Lanka, Uganda and Tajikistan – and Nigeria in schools.
  • Dozens of countries committed to invest in parenting support.
  • The Government of the United Kingdom along with other partners committed to launch a Global Taskforce on ending violence in and through schools.
  • Tanzania committed to introduce Child Protection Desks in all 25 000 schools.
  • Spain committed to pursue a new digital law to promote digital safety.
  • Solomon Islands pledged to raise the age of marriage from 15 to 18 – noting that early marriage is a significant risk factor for violence against adolescent girls.
  • Many countries made commitments to strengthen national policies and/or develop specific plans to tackle violence against children.

All pledges

 

Second round of polio campaign in Gaza completed amid ongoing conflict and attacks: UNICEF and WHO

WHO news - 06.11.2024

The second round of the polio vaccination campaign in the Gaza Strip was completed yesterday, with an overall 556 774 children under the age of 10 being vaccinated with a second dose of polio vaccine, and 448 425 children between 2- to 10-years-old receiving vitamin A, following the three phases conducted in the last weeks.

Administrative data confirm around 94% of the target population of 591 714 children under the age of 10 years received a second dose of nOPV2 across the Gaza Strip, which is a remarkable achievement given the extremely difficult circumstances the campaign was executed under. The campaign achieved 103% and 91% coverage in central and southern Gaza, respectively. However, in northern Gaza, where the campaign was compromised due to lack of access, approximately 88% coverage was achieved according to preliminary data. An estimated 7000-10 000 children in inaccessible areas like Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun remain unvaccinated and vulnerable to the poliovirus. This also increases the risk of further spread of poliovirus in the Gaza Strip and neighbouring countries.

The end of this second round concludes the polio vaccination campaign launched in September 2024. This round also took place in three phases across central, south and northern Gaza under area-specific humanitarian pauses. While the first two phases proceeded as planned, the third phase in northern Gaza had to be temporarily postponed on 23 October because of intense bombardments, mass displacements, lack of assured humanitarian pauses and access.

After careful assessment of the situation by the technical committee, comprising the Palestinian Ministry of Health, World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), the campaign resumed on 2 November. However, the area under the assured humanitarian pauses comprising the campaign was substantially reduced, compared to the first round, as the access was limited to Gaza City. Due to hostilities, more than 150 000 people were forced to evacuate from North Gaza to Gaza City, which helped in accessing more children than anticipated.

Despite these challenges, and thanks to the tremendous dedication, engagement and courage of parents, children, communities and health workers, the phase in northern Gaza was completed.

At least two doses and a minimum of 90% vaccination coverage are needed in each community to stop circulation of the polio strain affecting Gaza. Efforts will now continue to boost immunity levels through routine immunization services offered at functional health facilities and to strengthen disease surveillance to rapidly detect any further poliovirus transmission (either in affected children or in environmental samples). The evolving epidemiology will determine if further outbreak response may be necessary.

To fully implement surveillance and routine immunization services, not just for polio but for all vaccine-preventable diseases, WHO and UNICEF continue to call for a ceasefire. Further, apart from the attack on the primary healthcare centre, the campaign underscores what can be achieved with humanitarian pauses. These actions must be systematically applied beyond the polio emergency response efforts to other health and humanitarian interventions to respond to dire needs.

 

Notes to editors:

The polio campaign, being conducted by the Palestinian Ministry of Health in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), and other partners, was part of emergency efforts to stop a polio outbreak in Gaza, which was detected on 16 July 2024, and to prevent further spread of poliovirus.

Since July 2024, circulating variant poliovirus type 2 has been confirmed in Gaza in 11 environmental samples has been confirmed in Gaza in a 10-month-old paralysed child (in August 2024).

WHO study lists top endemic pathogens for which new vaccines are urgently needed

WHO news - 04.11.2024

A new World Health Organization (WHO) study published today in eBioMedicine names 17 pathogens that regularly cause diseases in communities as top priorities for new vaccine development. The WHO study is the first global effort to systematically prioritize endemic pathogens based on criteria that included regional disease burden, antimicrobial resistance risk and socioeconomic impact.

The study reconfirms longstanding priorities for vaccine research and development (R&D), including for HIV, malaria, and tuberculosis – three diseases that collectively take nearly 2.5 million lives each year.

The study also identifies pathogens such as Group A streptococcus and Klebsiella pneumoniae as top disease control priorities in all regions, highlighting the urgency to develop new vaccines for pathogens increasingly resistant to antimicrobials.

“Too often global decisions on new vaccines have been solely driven by return on investment, rather than by the number of lives that could be saved in the most vulnerable communities,” said Dr Kate O’Brien, Director of the Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals Department at WHO. “This study uses broad regional expertise and data to assess vaccines that would not only significantly reduce diseases that greatly impact communities today but also reduce the medical costs that families and health systems face.”

WHO asked international and regional experts to identify factors that are most important to them when deciding which vaccines to introduce and use. The analysis of those preferences, combined with regional data for each pathogen, resulted in top 10 priority pathogens for each WHO region. The regional lists where then consolidated to form the global list, resulting in 17 priority endemic pathogens for which new vaccines need to be researched, developed and used.

This new WHO global priority list of endemic pathogens for vaccine R&D supports the Immunization Agenda 2030’s goal of ensuring that everyone, in all regions, can benefit from vaccines that protect them from serious diseases. The list provides an equitable and transparent evidence base to set regional and global agendas for new vaccine R&D and manufacturing, and is intended to give academics, funders, manufacturers and countries a clear direction for where vaccine R&D could have the most impact.

This global prioritization exercise for endemic pathogens, complements the WHO R&D blueprint for epidemics, which identified priority pathogens that could cause future epidemics or pandemics, such as COVID-19 or severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

The findings of this new report on endemic pathogens are part of WHO’s work to identify and support the research priorities and needs of immunization programmes in low- and middle-income countries, to inform the global vaccine R&D agenda, and to strategically advance development and uptake of priority vaccines, particularly against pathogens that cause the largest public health burden and greatest socioeconomic impact. 

WHO Priority endemic pathogens list

Vaccines for these pathogens are at different stages of development.

Pathogens where vaccine research is needed

  • Group A streptococcus
  • Hepatitis C virus
  • HIV-1
  • Klebsiella pneumoniae

 Pathogens where vaccines need to be further developed

  • Cytomegalovirus
  • Influenza virus (broadly protective vaccine)
  • Leishmania species
  • Non-typhoidal Salmonella
  • Norovirus
  • Plasmodium falciparum (malaria)
  • Shigella species
  • Staphylococcus aureus

Pathogens where vaccines are approaching regulatory approval, policy recommendation or introduction

  • Dengue virus
  • Group B streptococcus
  • Extra-intestinal pathogenic E. coli
  • Mycobacterium tuberculosis
  • Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)

Statement by Principals of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee – Stop the assault on Palestinians in Gaza and on those trying to help them

WHO news - 01.11.2024

 We the leaders of 15 United Nations and humanitarian organizations urge, yet again, all parties fighting in Gaza to protect civilians, and call on the State of Israel to cease its assault on Gaza and on the humanitarians trying to help. 

The situation unfolding in North Gaza is apocalyptic. The area has been under siege for almost a month, denied basic aid and life-saving supplies while bombardment and other attacks continue. Just in the past few days, hundreds of Palestinians have been killed, most of them women and children, and thousands have once again been forcibly displaced. 

Hospitals have been almost entirely cut off from supplies and have come under attack, killing patients, destroying vital equipment, and disrupting life-saving services. Health workers and patients have been taken into custody. Fighting has also reportedly taken place inside hospitals. 

Dozens of schools serving as shelters have been bombed or forcibly evacuated. Tents sheltering displaced families have been shelled, and people have been burned alive. 

Rescue teams have been deliberately attacked and thwarted in their attempts to pull people buried under the rubble of their homes. 

The needs of women and girls are overwhelming and growing every day. We have lost contact with those we support and those who provide lifesaving essential services for sexual and reproductive health and gender-based violence. 

And we have received reports of civilians being targeted while trying to seek safety, and of men and boys being arrested and taken to unknown locations for detention. 

Livestock are also dying, crop lands have been destroyed, trees burned to the ground, and agrifood systems infrastructure has been decimated. 

The entire Palestinian population in North Gaza is at imminent risk of dying from disease, famine and violence. 

Humanitarian aid cannot keep up with the scale of the needs due to the access constraints. Basic, life-saving goods are not available. Humanitarians are not safe to do their work and are blocked by Israeli forces and by insecurity from reaching people in need. 

In a further blow to the humanitarian response, the polio vaccination campaign has been delayed due to the fighting, putting the lives of children in the region at risk. 

And this week, the Israeli Parliament adopted legislation that would ban UNRWA and revoke its privileges and immunities. If implemented, such measures would be a catastrophe for the humanitarian response in Gaza, diametrically opposed to the United Nations Charter, with potential dire impacts on the human rights of the millions of Palestinians depending on UNRWA’s assistance, and in violation of Israel’s obligations under international law. 

Let us be very clear: There is no alternative to UNRWA. 

The blatant disregard for basic humanity and for the laws of war must stop. 

International humanitarian law, including the rules of distinction, proportionality and precautions, must be respected. IHL obligations do not depend on reciprocity. No violation by one party ever releases the other from its legal obligations. 

Attacks against civilians and what remains of civilian infrastructure in Gaza must stop. 

Humanitarian relief must be facilitated, and we urge all parties to provide unimpeded access to affected people. Additionally, commercial goods must be allowed to enter Gaza. 

The wounded and sick must receive the care they need. Medical personnel and hospitals must be spared. Hospitals should not turn into battlegrounds. 

Unlawfully detained Palestinians must be released. 

Israel must comply with the provisional orders and determinations of the International Court of Justice. 

Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups must release the hostages immediately and unconditionally and must abide by international humanitarian law. 

Member States must use their leverage to ensure respect for international law. This includes withholding arms transfers where there is a clear risk that such arms will be used in violation of international law. 

The entire region is on the edge of a precipice. An immediate cessation of hostilities and a sustained, unconditional ceasefire are long overdue. 

Signatories: 

  • Ms. Joyce Msuya, Acting Emergency Relief Coordinator and Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) 
  • Ms. Nimo Hassan, MBE, Chair, International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA
  • Mr. Jamie Munn, Executive Director, International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA
  • Ms. Amy E. Pope, Director General, International Organization for Migration (IOM
  • Mr. Volker Türk, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR
  • Ms. Abby Maxman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Oxfam 
  • Ms. Paula Gaviria Betancur, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons (SR on HR of IDPs) 
  • Mr. Achim Steiner, Administrator, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) 
  • Ms. Anacláudia Rossbach, Executive Director, United Nations Human Settlement Programme (UN-Habitat) 
  • Mr. Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) 
  • Dr. Natalia Kanem, Executive Director, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) 
  • Ms. Catherine Russell, Executive Director, UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) 
  • Ms. Sima Bahous, Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director, UN Women 
  • Ms. Cindy McCain, Executive Director, World Food Programme (WFP) 
  • Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO) 

 

Global Model WHO youth delegates urge swift action on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response

WHO news - 01.11.2024
The World Federation of United Nations Associations (WFUNA) and the World Health Organization concluded the first in-person Global Model WHO (GMWHO) today, marking a powerful gathering of over 350 youth delegates from 52 countries from all Regions.

Quadripartite partners organize High-Level One Health meeting in collaboration with Brazil's Ministry of Health at the G20 Summit

WHO news - 01.11.2024
The Quadripartite collaboration on One Health - comprising the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) - co-organized the G20 High-Level Meeting on One Health on 30 October 2024.

Polio vaccination campaign to resume in northern Gaza

WHO news - 01.11.2024

A third phase of the polio vaccination campaign is set to begin tomorrow in part of the northern Gaza Strip after being postponed from 23 October 2024 due to lack of access and assured, comprehensive humanitarian pauses, intense bombardment, and mass evacuation orders. These conditions made it impossible for families to safely bring their children for vaccination and to organize campaign activities.  

The humanitarian pause necessary to conduct the campaign has been assured; however, the area of the pause has been substantially reduced compared to the first round of vaccination in northern Gaza, conducted in September 2024. It is now limited to just Gaza City. Though in the past few weeks, at least 100 000 people have been forced to evacuate from North Gaza towards Gaza City for safety, around 15 000 children under ten years in towns in North Gaza like Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun still remain inaccessible and will be missed during the campaign, compromising its effectiveness. To interrupt poliovirus transmission, at least 90% of all children in every community and neighborhood must be vaccinated. This will be challenging to achieve given the situation. 

The final phase of the campaign had aimed to reach an estimated 119 000 children under ten years old in northern Gaza with a second dose of novel oral polio vaccine type 2 (nOPV2). However, achieving this target is now unlikely due to access constraints.  

Despite the lack of access to all eligible children in northern Gaza, the Polio Technical Committee for Gaza, including the Palestinian Ministry of Health, World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and partners has taken the decision to resume the campaign. This aims to mitigate the risk of a long delay in reaching as many children as possible with polio vaccine and the opportunity to vaccinate those recently evacuated to Gaza City from other parts of North Gaza.   

 To overcome challenges posed by the volatile security situation and constant population movement, robust micro plans have been developed to ensure the campaign is responsive to the significant population shifts and displacement in the north, following the first round in September. The campaign will be delivered by 216 teams across 106 fixed sites, 22 of which have been added to ensure increased availability of vaccination in areas where recently displaced people are seeking refuge. Two hundred and nine social mobilizers will be deployed to engage communities and raise awareness around vaccination efforts. The time period for the humanitarian pause has been extended by two hours and is expected to run from 6am to 4pm daily. As in the first two phases, vitamin A will also be co-administered to children between two to ten years in the north to help boost overall immunity. 

The campaign in northern Gaza follows the successful implementation of the first two phases of the second round in central and southern Gaza, which reached 451 216 children – 96% of the target in these areas. A total of 364 306 children aged between 2 and 10 years have received vitamin A so far in this round.  

Despite the challenges, WHO and UNICEF urge for the humanitarian pauses to be respected to ensure the successful delivery of this second round of the polio vaccination campaign. This is crucial to help curb the spread of polio in Gaza and neighboring countries.

G20 health ministers rally support for WHO’s Investment Round

WHO news - 31.10.2024
Ministers of Health expressed their support for WHO's Investment Round during a G20 meeting chaired by Brazil held today in Rio de Janeiro.
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