Without urgent action to address the disproportionate impact of HIV on adolescent girls and young women, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, hard-won gains in the HIV response could be lost, UNICEF warns in its latest statement ahead of World AIDS Day tomorrow.
Calling for vigilance by both the public and health workers, Dr Immaculate Atuhairwe who is in charge of Operations for the mpox response at the World Health Organisation Uganda office said they have had confirmed cases that had previously reported to health facilities for up to five times but were being missed and treated for other infections such as malaria.
When ‘non-contact’ forms of sexual violence, such as online or verbal abuse are included, the number of girls and women affected rises to 650 million globally – or 1 in 5, underscoring the urgent need for comprehensive prevention and support strategies to effectively address all forms of violence and abuse.
Dr. Nandy, who previously held a similar position in the Islamic Republic of Iran, presented his credentials to John Mulimba, Uganda’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, during a meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kampala on Tuesday.
“The latest trends demonstrate that many countries continue to miss far too many children,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. “Closing the immunization gap requires a global effort, with governments, partners, and local leaders investing in primary healthcare and community workers to ensure every child gets vaccinated, and that overall healthcare is strengthened.”
From 2019 - 2023, UNICEF supported the government of Uganda with funding from the Korean government to implement a water sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in schools Programme. The program supported 92 primary and 8 secondary schools across 9 districts of Karamoja
The major focus was on WASH Infrastructure, and behavior change promotion intervention that comprises of climate resilient water system benefiting schools and nearby communities.
The works include the construction of 2 classrooms, an office for the Headteacher, 2 stance Pit latrines for boys, furniture for the 2 classrooms, and 2 tables for the teachers.
On Friday, over 300 learners from selected Nursery schools from all the nine districts of Karamoja gathered at Lomukura primary school in Kotido municipality to showcase some of their games in the learning through-play approach.
This data shows that in low-income countries, less than one in ten children aged 15 and below have access to such benefits, representing a large disparity when compared with high income countries where the coverage is high. Comparably in terms of percentages, in Eastern and Southern Africa coverage has increased from 9.6 per cent to 12.3 per cent and yet in North America, coverage has increased from 78.1 per cent to 84.0 per cent. In Western Europe where coverage is highest, it has increased from 91.0 per cent to 93.2 per cent.
According to the document titled, ‘Protecting maternal, newborn and child health from the impacts of climate change’, very few country's climate change response plans mention maternal or child health, describing this as “a glaring omission and emblematic of the inadequate attention to the needs of women, newborns, and children in the climate change discourse”.
The findings which were released on Wednesday are based on 2022 data which shows that about one-quarter of countries cannot assess their progress in achieving targets for key malnutrition indicators.
The global analysis which reviewed household access to WASH services, the burden of WASH-attributable deaths among children under five, and exposure to climate and environmental hazards reveal where children face the biggest threat and where investment in solutions is desperately needed to prevent unnecessary deaths.
The report shows that the poorest 20 per cent of learners benefit from only 16 per cent of public funding for education, while the richest benefit from 28 per cent. Among low-income countries, only 11 per cent of public education funding goes to the poorest learners, while 42 per cent goes to the richest.
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.
“To truly harness the potential of technology, we need to avoid simply replicating in the digital form the mistakes made in traditional in-person instruction." -UN Special Adviser for the Transforming Education Summit, Leonardo Garnier.
Catherine Russell, the UNICEF Executive Director predicts that if immunization coverage continues to decline at the rate it currently is due to COVID-19, other outbreaks of immunizable disease will be recorded.
