Health

Global features, Country-level stories

The first five years of a child’s life are marked by a celebration of ‘firsts’—the first birthday, first tooth, first step, and first word. Caregivers know the feeling, from conception to birth and even long after, of watching and waiting for a child to reach milestone after milestone as confirmation of good health, well-being, and development.  …

Ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being at all ages is a cornerstone of sustainable development. Advances in life sciences, medicine, and technology open opportunities to find new ways of keeping people healthy.  The emerging field of precision health offers a different model of healthcare, one that considers differences in people’s genes…

One-third of UNICEF's  zero-dose children  in the East Asia and the Pacific Region live in the Philippines, and the challenge of ensuring universal vaccination is significant.   In response, the UNICEF Office of Innovation has proactively supported the development and implementation of an innovative real-time vaccine monitoring toolkit known as …, The Challenge , The Philippines stands among the top five nations globally grappling with the challenge of zero-dose children. With a landscape spanning over 2,000 inhabited islands, despite great strides made by the government and its partners, routine coverage of fundamental vaccines hovers between 70 and 80 per cent.  Old vaccine monitoring processes rely on…, Scaling journey , The Office of Innovation supported the scale-up of the RT-VaMA initiative. UNICEF first used Open Data Kit in the Philippines in 2019 to support vaccination during a polio outbreak. With the Office of Innovation's support, the initiative was scaled up in 2023 to improve vaccination planning and implementation.  Through this support, the …, The Impact , Early results from RT-VaMA are promising, as the tool efficiently pinpointed health centers prepared for the campaign, enabling timely interventions for those lagging before the campaign's launch. Managers received alerts about facility readiness, allowing them to proactively address issues and enhance preparedness.  Throughout the campaign, RT-…, Learning and Looking Ahead , Achieving ownership and sustainability of the process was critical, and necessitated ensuring government support at both the local and national levels. This was made possible through robust coordination between the government and partners, including establishing effective feedback mechanisms.  ​​​The implementation of RT-VaMA highlights the…

1 in 3 children globally have blood lead levels at or above 5 µg/dL, which may cause decreased intelligence, behavioural difficulties and learning problems. Simplified blood sample collection is essential in carrying out large-scale screenings in children, helping determine blood lead levels and identify other heavy metal pollutants and pesticides…

Across the world, over 14 million women suffer from Post-Partum Hemorrhage (PPH), also known as excessive bleeding after birth. Every year, PPH leads to approximately 70,000 deaths, making it the leading cause of maternal mortality in low- and middle-income countries. UNICEF is working to increase access to collecting drape, a product that…

The initiative of integrating heat exchangers in PSA oxygen plants makes life-saving oxygen affordable and accessible through enabling renewable energy use in health facilities. It reduces energy costs by redirecting heat from air compressor of PSA plant to hospitals. The heat is used to warm water for purposes such as sterilizing medical…

Powering oxygen Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) plants with solar energy addresses the common challenge of unreliable or absent grid power in low-resource settings. This is key to ensure security of oxygen supply to children and patients suffering from pneumonia, COVID-19 and other serious conditions. The solar power solution is clean and…

The challenge, Preventable newborn mortality and morbidity are unacceptably high. In 2020, over 2.4 million children lose their lives within the first month, accounting for 47 per cent of deaths among children under the age of 5 globally . The vast majority of preventable newborn deaths happen in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) . In LMICs, there are…, 47% , of under-5 child deaths occur in newborns. Globally, 2.4 million children , died in their first month globally.  Stillbirth icon, The first 28 days, are key to prevent newborn deaths with proven interventions and improved care., The response, UNICEF is working with partners to improve the availability of needed technologies for essential newborn care at all health system levels and drive demand for existing and upcoming newborn product suites. Efforts are also focused on identifying gaps and increasing accessibility to sustainable, affordable, and easy-to-use products suitable for low-…, Icon for UNICEF Newborn Health Procurement Tool PILOT for Newborn Health Procurement Tool, Ensuring appropriate and comprehensive newborn care products available at health facilities can help save millions of babies in the first 28 days of their lives. Through project PILOT (ProcureMate for Integrated Lifesaving Obstetric and newborn Technologies), UNICEF worked to develop the Newborn Health Procurement Tool, an easy-to-use and…, Icon for UNICEF Jaundice Management BALLERINA for Jaundice Management, Jaundice occurs in almost all newborn patients. Early screening and diagnosis are crucial for enabling effective phototherapy treatment and prevent the progression of severe cases that could lead to potential brain damage due to limited access to blood transfusion within eight hours. UNICEF is working on project BALLERINA (Bilirubin Assessment to…, Icon for UNICEF Thermal Management HERO for Thermal Management, Adequate thermal support during transport can be critical to a newborn’s survival in the first hours of their lives.  Through project HERO (Heat Emergency Response for Optimal Neonatal Care),​ UNICEF is innovating to introduce and accelerate access to devices that provide effective thermal support during neonatal transport, as newborns are most…, Icon for UNICEF Hypoglycemia Management fireFIGHTer for Hypoglycemia Management, Hypoglycaemia affect 5–10% of healthy infants and 54% of late preterm babies . In low-resource settings, newborns often rely on cheap and non-standardised adult glucometers intended for diabetic patients, which fails to provide adequate, consistent monitoring of rapidly fluctuating glucose levels in newborns. Inaccurate diagnosis and delayed…, icon for Point of Care Ultrasound ASTRONAUT for Point of Care Ultrasound, Effective and timely ultrasounds scans are important to monitor and ensure the baby’s healthy development before and after birth.​ An early ultrasound scan before 24 weeks of gestation is recommended for pregnant women to accurately determine the gestational age, detect any fetal abnormalities or multiple pregnancies, and enhance the overall…, The impact, Working to improve access to affordable, high-quality newborn care products, UNICEF’s DREAMS suite for Newborn Health is crucial to help end preventable newborn deaths and stillbirths by 2030, as outlined in the Every Newborn Action Plan , ensuring every baby has a fair chance to dream big., Resources

This year marks a mid-point in the 2023 Agenda. Despite over a decade of progress, the world is falling short of meeting the Sustainable Development Goals in all 17 areas – from climate action to education, inequality, poverty and health.   On health, remarkable steps have been taken to improve global outcomes . 146 out of 200 countries have met…

The UNICEF Venture Fund is looking to invest in Open Source frontier technology solutions that have the potential to create radical change in children’s health, nutrition, and mental health. We are offering up to US$100K in equity-free funding for early stage, for-profit technology start-ups that can improve the lives of children. If your company…, The Challenge, Every child has the right to survive and thrive. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a negative impact on global health, nutrition and mental health indicators for children. It has also amplified the persistent inequities in access to quality healthcare, especially in low- and middle-income countries. Factors such as where a child is born, their gender…, What we're looking for, UNICEF’s innovation portfolio approach prioritizes addressing the most challenging problems faced by children and young people through nine thematic portfolios, including maternal, newborn, child & adolescent health, nutrition, mental health, youth, and humanitarian response to reach the most vulnerable populations. These portfolios prioritize…, Background, UNICEF’s Venture Fund has been specifically designed to finance early stage, Open Source technology that can benefit children. The core motivation of the Venture Fund is to identify “clusters” or portfolios of initiatives around emerging technology  so that UNICEF can both shape markets and learn about and guide these technologies for children. We…

Almost half of the world’s population live in remote areas , but across the world, most health workers and healthcare facilities are in cities. Communities in rural or underserved regions often face significant barriers to accessing the health care they need, from long travel times to reach facilities and providers, to delayed diagnosis and…