World Health Day: Building Forward Fairer for Vulnerable Women, Children and Adolescents

Helga Fogstad, Executive Director& Etienne Langlois, Team Lead, Knowledge This year's World Health Day, celebrated on 7th of April, focuses on the critical need to enhance equity for the most vulnerable communities worldwide. COVID-19 has further highlighted this need, given it is unravelling the hard-fought gains made over recent decades in reducing maternal, newborn and child mortality. During 2020, coverage of lifesaving health interventions for women, children and adolescents in36 developing countries was estimated to have dropped by up to 25%. RecentUNFPA estimates indicate that across 115 low- and middle-income countries, the pandemic disrupted contraceptive use for about 12 million women, causing nearly 1.4 million unintended pregnancies in 2020. Similarly, according to aUNICEF, WHO and Gavi pulse survey, three-quarters of 82 surveyed countries reported COVID-19-related disruptions to immunization programmes.
Source: WHO Maternal, Newborn and Child Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Tags: adolescent health [subject], adolescent, youth, young people, teen health, teenager, adolescence, adolescents, Press release [doctype] Source Type: news