Good Health and Well-Being
Worsening humanitarian situations from climate change, water management and migration in rural areas
The 2024-25 season in Afghanistan has inflicted severe hardships on rural communities.
Developments in the opiate and methamphetamine markets
An analysis of available drug seizure and price data in and around Afghanistan show clearly that regional opiate markets continue to experience supply disruptions due to declining opium production.
Opium poppy cultivation and opium production in Afghanistan 2025
Starting with the 2023 crop season, the De facto Authorites in Afghanistan enforced a nationwide narcotic ban that forbade production, trafficking and use of any form of drugs.
Foreword from the executive director
AIDS is not over.Together, we must overcome disruption and transform the AIDS response.
Towards a sustainable HIV response: reaffirming global solidarity
Shared responsibility and global solidarity have been the foundations on which the global HIV response has achieved its historic reductions in numbers of new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths. As we transition to a new era of solidarity, shared responsibility and global solidarity will remain essential to hopes for ending AIDS. Unless the world pulls together to overcome the growing financing, human rights and programmatic challenges confronting the HIV response, we will miss the opportunity to end AIDS as a public health threat.
The HIV response is at risk
Progress in the global HIV response continued in 2024, although it was uneven and fell short of global AIDS 2025 and 2030 targets. The 1.3 million people newly acquiring HIV in 2024 was 40% lower than in 2010, and the number of AIDS-related deaths (630 000 in 2024) has continued to fall—by 54% since 2010 and by 15% since 2020.
Introduction
At the end of 2024, the world was closer than in the past two decades to ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030. At that point, 31.6 million of the 40.8 million (77%) [37 million–45.6 million] people living with HIV were on lifesaving treatment.
Important signs of resilience in the HIV response
Although the impacts of funding cuts are severe, neither country governments nor communities have accepted these reductions passively. Instead, key actors at all levels are rapidly responding, developing and implementing measures to ensure the long-term sustainability of the response.
Monitoring the Situation of Children and Women
COVID-19 and Children
COVID-19: un plan d’action en 10 points pour renforcer la facilitation des échanges et du transport en période de pandémie
La pandémie de coronavirus (Covid-19) affecte considérablement la vie et les moyens de subsistance des gens tout en exerçant des tensions extrêmes sur les systèmes socioéconomiques. Une collaboration, coordination et solidarité internationales seront essentielles pour surmonter ce défi mondial sans précédent. Dans le cadre des efforts visant à réduire la propagation internationale du virus et à atténuer les conséquences potentiellement dévastatrices de la pandémie à plus long terme, en particulier pour les pays les plus vulnérables, les décideurs politiques doivent prendre un certain nombre de mesures pour assurer la facilitation du commerce international et du transport des marchandises. Il est crucial de garder les navires en mouvement, les ports ouverts et le commerce transfrontalier et de transit fluide, tout en veillant à ce que les agences frontalières puissent effectuer tous les contrôles nécessaires en toute sécurité.
The Impact of Marriage and Children on Labour Market Participation
This paper is being released in the midst of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. In addition to being a health crisis unlike any other in recent history, the pandemic is an economic and social crisis. Families—and women within them—are juggling an increase in unpaid care work as well as losses in income and paid work. Lone mothers, in particular, are acutely vulnerable, unable to share the care burden, and more likely to work for low pay and in vulnerable occupations. The restrictions put in place to combat COVID-19 also leave women and their families in precarious positions. Understanding the extent to which women’s participation in the labour market is linked to family structures is even more crucial in these uncertain times. This publication, drawing on a global dataset and new indicators developed by UN Women and the International Labour Organization, shows that women’s employment is shaped by domestic and caregiving responsibilities in ways that men’s is not. The data collected pre-COVID-19 provide insights into the distribution of domestic and caregiving responsibilities within various types of households—insights that are critical at this juncture when policies and programmes are being designed to respond to the pandemic’s economic fallout.
Social Protection, Cash Transfers and Long-Term Poverty Reduction
Celebrating ten years of building evidence for action on cash transfers in Africa, UNICEF, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) organized the seventh regional Transfer Project workshop on “Social Protection, Cash Transfers and Long-Term Poverty Reduction”* in Arusha, Tanzania from 2 to 4 April 2019. Over 130 social protection experts and stakeholders from 20 African countries attended, including government officials, UNICEF and FAO staff, academics, NGOs and other development partners.
Prosecuting International Crimes Against Children
Do Constraints on Women Worsen Child Deprivations?
This paper provides a framework for analyzing constraints that apply specifically to women, which theory suggests may have negative impacts on child outcomes (as well as on women). We classify women’s constraints into four dimensions: (i) low influence on household decisions, (ii) restrictions on mobility, (iii) domestic physical and psychological abuse, and (iv) limited information access. Each of these constraints are in principle determined within households. We test the impact of women’s constraints on child outcomes using nationally representative household Demographic and Health Survey data from India, including 53,030 mothers and 113,708 children, collected in 2015-16. We examine outcomes including nutrition, health, education, water quality, and sanitation. In our primary specification, outcomes are measured as multidimensional deprivations incorporating indicators for each of these deficiencies, utilizing a version of UNICEF’s Multidimensional Overlapping Deprivation Analysis index. We identify causal impacts using a Lewbel specification and present an array of additional econometric strategies and robustness checks. We find that children of women who are subjected to domestic abuse, have low influence in decision making, and limited freedom of mobility are consistently more likely to be deprived, measured both multidimensionally and with separate indicators.
Towards Inclusive Cities for All
Informal employment is the norm in most of the developing world, with an over-representation of women. The majority of this work is informal self-employment, which is typically survival-oriented with few prospects and low returns. In spite of its prevalence and its importance to the livelihoods of millions of women and their families, the quality of informal self-employment has received surprisingly little attention from policymakers. The 2030 Agenda, with its goals on decent work and economic growth (SDG 8) and sustainable cities and communities (SDG 11) has the potential to change this. One of the main challenges is that some of the preconditions of labour rights – an employer to address claims to, a conventional workplace that can be inspected and improved and effective trade unions that can engage in social dialogue – are missing. This Policy Brief focuses on three groups of informally self-employed women working in urban areas – street vendors, home-based workers and waste pickers – to show how organizations of informal workers engaging with local and national policymakers are working to advance these workers’ rights and help to create more inclusive cities for all.
Towards Inclusive Education
The Impact of the Food and Financial Crises on Child Mortality
Protecting Women’s Income Security in Old Age
This brief synthesizes research findings, analysis and policy recommendations on transforming pension systems to reduce gender gaps and protect women’s income security in old age. Ageing has a female face. Women not only live longer than men but are also less likely to enjoy income security and economic independence in old age. Because of a lifetime of economic disadvantage, older women end up with lower incomes and less access to land, housing and other assets that would help them maintain an adequate standard of living. In addition, pension systems grossly fail to produce equal outcomes for women. In most countries, women are less likely than men to receive a pension at all, or they have lower benefits. Gendered labour market and life course patterns lie at the roots of women’s disadvantage in old age, but their impact can be magnified or mitigated by specific features of pension system design. This brief takes a closer look at these features and shows how pension systems can be transformed to reduce gender gaps and protect women’s income security in old age.
Child Poverty and Deprivation in Mali
The Impact of Zambia’s Unconditional Child Grant on Schooling and Work
Making Trade Agreements Work For Gender Equality - Data and Statistics
What is the impact of trade on gender equality, and how can trade policy influence that impact? These questions are difficult to answer without reliable and comprehensive statistics. In December 2017, the Buenos Aires Declaration on Trade and Women's Economic Empowerment1 called for an inventory of data sources, collection of gender-disaggregated data and the analysis of gender-focused statistics related to trade. This policy brief provides some tools for taking stock of available data to assess the gender impacts of trade agreements. In 2018, UNCTAD developed a statistical conceptual framework to bring together key elements for understanding the impact of trade on gender equality. This brief applies that framework by exploring data availability and gaps. The work builds on the expertise of the UNCTAD Statistics and Trade, Gender and Development programme working to improve women's economic empowerment through the development of gender-responsive trade policy.
Good Governance of Early Childhood Development Programmes in Developing Countries
There is need for a holistic, comprehensive ECD monitoring system that covers the multiple facets (i.e. education, health, social protection and the social and economical context in which the child is born) of public and private ECD interventions in a country. Such a system is essential for ensuring that all children can reap the benefits of ECD. It serves as a means of support and oversight for monitoring the performance and planning of ECD policies and programmes in developing countries. The paper highlights the importance of comprehensive ECD monitoring for making evidence-based decisions, and discusses practical issues to take into consideration when developing such a system. One of the first steps is deciding what to monitor through the selection of a limited number of valid and measurable indicators that are aligned to policy and programme goals. In this respect the capacity of the government system should be thoroughly assessed, including 1) the identification and evaluation of existing administrative and other data sources; 2) a training needs analysis of the administrators who will operate the monitoring system to allow for strengthening their skills and prepare them for their future duties; and 3) consideration of the long-term costs of operating a monitoring system in relation to the (projected) available funds, in order to ensure the sustainability of the system.
Child Mortality and Injury in Asia
Redistribuir el ciudado no remunerado y prestar servicios de cuidadoes de calidad
Existe un reconocimiento generalizado entre la comunidad internacional acerca de la centralidad del cuidado para el desarrollo sostenible y la igualdad de género. En el documento “Transformar nuestro mundo: la Agenda 2030 para el Desarrollo Sostenible”—también conocido como “Agenda 2030”—, los cuidados no remunerados figuran como una de las metas del quinto Objetivo de Desarrollo Sostenible (“Lograr la igualdad entre los géneros y empoderar a todas las mujeres y las niñas”), y las y los agentes políticos reconocen cada vez más la importancia crucial de este elemento para el desarrollo sostenible. Dado el consenso generado en torno a la importancia del cuidado —y a su reconocimiento, reducción y redistribución—, el presente documento profundiza en las cuestiones clave que surgen en el ámbito de las políticas acerca de cómo reducir la carga de trabajo doméstico y de cuidados no remunerado, así como en el modo en que podría redistribuirse dicha carga de manera más equitativa entre mujeres y hombres, y entre las familias y el conjunto de la sociedad. Su objetivo es cerrar la brecha entre el consenso emergente sobre la importancia del cuidado y las opciones de políticas (bastante menos claras) dirigidas a respaldar los cuidados corrigiendo la visión de que se trata de un ámbito exclusivamente femenino.
Protection de la sécurité de revenu de femmes dans leur vieillesse
Cette Note offre une synthèse des conclusions de recherche, des analyses et des recommandations de politique concernant la transformation de systèmes de pension dans le sens d’une réduction de l’écart homme-femme et d’une protection de la sécurité de revenu de femmes dans leur vieillesse. Le vieillissement a un visage féminin. Les femmes non seulement vivent plus longtemps que les hommes, mais sont également exposées à un risque accru d’insécurité et de dépendance économiques dans leur vieillesse. Par suite d’une vie entière de désavantage économique, les femmes parvenues à la force de l’âge se retrouvent avec de moindres revenus et de moindres possibilités d’accès à de la terre, à un logement et à d’autres actifs qui auraient pu leur assurer un niveau de vie adéquat. De plus, les systèmes de pension de retraite manquent manifestement d’équité dans leurs prestations pour les femmes. Dans la plupart des pays, les femmes ont moins de possibilités que les hommes de toucher une pension ou reçoivent des prestations de retraite inférieures. Les sexospécificités du marché du travail et du parcours de vie expliquent le désavantage des femmes du troisième âge, mais leurs incidences peuvent être amplifiées ou atténuées par la prise de dispositions spécifiques dans l’agencement de pensions de retraite. Cette Note examine ces questions de plus près et montre comment il est possible de transformer les systèmes de pension pour réduire les écarts liés au genre et à protéger la sécurité de revenu des femmes dans leur vieillesse.
Why Assist People Living in Poverty?
Commitment to Equity for Children (CEQ4C)
Fiscal incidence analysis is the most widely used methodology to assess the distributional effects of fiscal policies. However, for 40 years, it has lacked a child lens. A child focus on the redistributive capacity of fiscal policy is increasingly important due to the disproportionate incidence of poverty among children globally. This paper provides a child-dedicated focus on fiscal incidence analysis by tracking child-relevant benefits, turning children the unit of analysis, and using multidimensional child poverty metrics. The analysis–Commitment to Equity for Children, or CEQ4C–integrates three analytical frameworks, namely, public finance, fiscal incidence analysis, and multidimensional child poverty analysis. The paper develops a proof of concept for Uganda that includes measurement, diagnostics, and a policy simulation package replicable across diverse contexts. The proof of concept confirms that CEQ4C provides a higher-resolution fiscal incidence analysis for children than the traditional fiscal incidence analysis.
Education for All?
Falling Behind
The Long-Term Effect of Humanitarian Emergencies on Adolescents
This short paper grew out of discussions at a two-day research workshop focused on famines and adolescents. It explores some of what we do and do not know about the impacts of humanitarian situations on adolescents’ lives. Adolescents and their specific capacities and vulnerabilities have tended to be overlooked in the design and implementation of humanitarian responses, including in social protection and further components of such responses. This paper seeks to bring these questions to the attention of researchers, policy makers and practitioners in order to address identified priority gaps; build on existing knowledge; invest in better evidence generation; and include adolescents in research and response efforts in meaningful ways. Such improvements to humanitarian responses would assist in developing more inclusive efforts that consider all ages in the child’s life-course; aim for more sustainable well-being outcomes and help meet core commitments to children in these settings.
Children and Reparation
Sustainable Development Goal 1.2
The new universal Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) call for “reducing at least by half the proportion of men, women and children of all ages living in poverty in all its dimensions according to national definitions” by 2030. Since few European Union (EU) countries have an official national multidimensional poverty measure for monitoring progress towards the SDGs, this paper proposes and evaluates a child-specific multidimensional poverty measure using data from ad hoc material deprivation modules of the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) 2009 and 2014. The proposed measure can be used both for national and EU-wide SDG monitoring without replacing either national or EU-wide indices of material deprivation. Comparing child multidimensional poverty rates between 2009 and 2014, the paper ranks EU countries based on the 2014 headcount rates and changes over time.
Measuring Adolescent Well-Being
Advocacy and action for adolescents have been hampered by the lack of a concrete results framework that can be used to describe the state of the world’s adolescents and serve as a basis for goals and targets. In order to fill this gap, UNICEF, in collaboration with key partners, is facilitating the development of an outcome-based framework that incorporates the key dimensions of an adolescent’s life and a proposed set of globally comparable indicators that will provide a common platform to track the progress of adolescent development and well-being. The domains that have been selected for measurement are: health and well-being, education and learning, safety and protection, participation, transition to work.
Protecting Vulnerable Families in Central Asia
Psychosocial Support for Children
Migration and Inequality
Drawing on Europe’s experience, this brief provides a cross-country comparative overview of inequality affecting children in the migration pathway, who are often described as 'children on the move'. Following a brief overview of the policy and practice in relation to various categories of refugee and migration children in Europe, it reflects on the performance of the countries with regard to Target 10.7 of the SDG.
Simulation of the Effects of the Economic Crisis and Response Policies on Children in West and Central Africa
Governance and the Rights of Children
Adolescents’ Mental Health
Mental health is increasingly gaining the spotlight in the media and public discourse of industrialized countries. The problem is not new, but thanks to more open discussions and fading stigma, it is emerging as one of the most critical concerns of public health today. Psychological problems among children and adolescents can be wide-ranging and may include attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), disruptive conduct, anxiety, eating and mood disorders and other mental illnesses. Consistent evidence shows the links between adolescents’ mental health and the experience of bullying. Collecting internationally comparable data to measure mental health problems among children and adolescents will provide important evidence and stimulate governments to improve psychological support and services to vulnerable children.
Does COVID-19 Affect the Health of Children and Young People More Than We Thought?
Contrary to the current narrative, the risks of COVID-19 (coronavirus) disease in children and young people depend largely on where individuals live and how vulnerable they are to disease and ill health. It is commonly accepted, at least for now, that children and young people under 20 years of age have largely been spared the direct epidemiological effects on their own health and survival of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), responsible for COVID-19 disease. This narrative is based predominantly on early data from the countries first affected by the virus, notably China (Wuhan province) and Italy in early 2020, and also from other high-income countries (HICs) including the United States and some European nations. This narrative has conditioned the subsequent screening and testing for SARS-CoV-2 virus in children and young people under 20, which have been notably lower than for other age cohorts in many, but not all, countries. But demographic profiles differ widely between countries, and assumptions and narratives based on evidence taken from ageing societies, typical of HICs, may not hold for more youthful and growing populations, as illustrated by the contrast between the age-cohort profiles of COVID-19 cases for Italy and Kenya. For this reason, and given that the vast majority of the world’s children and young people live in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and territories, we began to investigate the burden of COVID-19 cases among children and young people under 20 globally.