Category: Children and Wellbeing

Source: Save The Children

The empty playground of a primary school in Barishal IA, Bangladesh. Photo credit: Shamsuzzaman/Save the Children April 24, 2024. 

DHAKA, 30 April – Bangladesh[1] has ordered the closure of all primary and secondary schools for another week following country-wide closures last week brought about by a heat wave which kept about 33 million children out of school as temperatures soared past 42C (108F).

The order from Bangladesh’s high court does not include universities and exempts students who are sitting exams.

Bangladesh follows a Sunday to Thursday work week and the court order directs schools to remain closed until Thursday and resume again on Sunday, though schools with airconditioning were allowed to remain open.[2]

All learning centres run by Save the Children in the Cox’s Bazaar camps in southeastern Bangladesh, home to the largest refugee settlement in the world, are also shut this week.

It follows school closures in the Philippines and in South Sudan as persistent heatwaves sweep across parts of Asia and Africa.

Climate and environmental threats are responsible for the disruption of the education of over 37 million children each year^[3] and heat has a significant impact on education, with students showing lower levels of achievement during hot school years.

According to a study by HarvardKennedy School, hotter countries tend to score lower on academic achievement measurements.^[4] The same research suggests that every one-degree Farenheit increase in temperature reduces the amount learned in school by 1 %.^[5]

Shumon Sengupta, Country Director Bangladesh, Save the Children International, said: “The extreme heat in Bangladesh means students haven’t been able to return to school this week and this should be a wake up call for all of us. Climate threats such as heat waves have a significant impact on education with students showing lower levels of achievement during hot school years. Even when they do go to school, heat can hurt children’s concentration. Heat exposure also highlights inequalities, with students from lower-income countries like Bangladesh more likely to live in areas impacted by heat and therefore less likely to have access to mitigation measures such as air-conditioning.”

Bangladesh is one of the countries most vulnerable to the impacts of the climate crisis, and has been classified as the seventh most extreme disaster risk-prone country in the world.[6]

Last year, 2023, was the planet’s hottest year since records began in 1850 and saw global temperatures rise 1.18°C (2.12°F) above the 20th-century average of 13.9°C (57.0°F).

Save the Children has been working in Bangladesh for more than 50 years. Together with government, civil society organizations and businesses we respond to major emergencies, deliver development programmes and ensure that children’s voices are heard through our campaigning to build a better future.

ENDS

 

For further enquiries please contact:

Amy Lefevre, Global Media Manager, Asia: Amy.Lefevre@savethechildren.org

Our media out of hours (BST) contact is media@savethechildren.org.uk / +44(0)7831 650409

Source: Save The Children

KABUL, 30 April 2024 – A plane carrying 92 tonnes of vital medicines has arrived in Afghanistan to treat about 675,000 people, including children with life-threatening but preventable illnesses after an increase in respiratory infections and measles this year, Save the Children said.

The consignment – the largest delivered by Save the Children in a year – will provide lifesaving treatment for nearly 400,000 children afflicted by endemic childhood illnesses such as respiratory tract infections, pneumonia, acute watery diarrhoea, and skin diseases.

Over the past 3 months, Save the Children’s mobile health teams working in 8 provinces treated nearly 69,000 cases of acute respiratory infections in children under the age of 5.

Since the beginning of 2024, more than 1,000 children under the age of 5 have died after contracting pneumonia, comprising 88% of all deaths from respiratory infection [1].  The current number of cases is higher than the average number reported during the past three  years, according to the World Health Organisation. The number of cases of measles among children under five has risen by 44% compared with the same period last year.

Nearly 18 million Afghans – or about 40% of the population – have limited access to health care [3].

The 92 tonnes of medicines will be distributed across Save the Children’s 58 static and mobile clinics, which are positioned to reach the most marginalized and underserved communities who live between 15 and 95 kilometres away from public health clinics or hospitals.

In March, Save the Children health teams carried out about 86,500 consultations, including with 2-year-old  Shekib*. He lives in a remote part of southern Afghanistan and weighed less than 9 kgs (20 pounds) when his family brought him to a Save the Children clinic. He was hardly eating and had dermatitis caused by vitamin deficiencies.

Zarif*, Shekib’s* father, said:

“I took my son to various private hospitals and nearby clinics for his treatment, but his health condition did not improve and, in fact, worsened day by day… so, I brought Shekib* to the mobile health team, where the doctor examined my son and provided him with medicines. After a few weeks, my son recovered and was back to health.”

Arshad Malik, Country Director for Save the Children in Afghanistan, said:  

“Too many children in Afghanistan die from easily preventable diseases and illnesses. The arrival of these medicines means that more than 400,000 children will receive potentially lifesaving treatment in some of the most remote areas of the country.

Every day around the world, roughly 16,000 children under the age of 5 will die from common illnesses that can be prevented and treated [4]. This aid delivery is part of Save the Children’s commitment to ensure that no child dies from preventable causes before their fifth birthday – but we cannot fulfil that commitment on our own.

We are grateful to the various international donors that have made this shipment possible, but more funding for Afghanistan is needed to ensure that children in some of the most marginalised and underserved areas of the country have a future.’

The medicines, which are worth about US $590,000, were donated by the Dutch Relief Alliance (DRA), the European Union Humanitarian Aid (ECHO), the German Federal Foreign Office (GFFO), USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA) and Save the Children’s internal Humanitarian Fund, among other organisations.

Save the Children has been supporting communities and protecting children’s rights across Afghanistan since 1976, including during periods of conflict and natural disasters. We have programmes in nine provinces and work with partners in an additional seven provinces. Since August 2021, we’ve been scaling up our response to support the increasing number of children in need. We deliver health, nutrition, education, child protection, shelter, water, sanitation and hygiene, and livelihood support. 

*Name changed to protect anonymity.

[1] https://www.emro.who.int/images/stories/afghanistan/Outbreak-Situation-Report-Week-14-2024.pdf?ua=1

[2] Historic disease outbreak reports at https://www.emro.who.int/afg/information-resources/infectious-disease-outbreak-situation-reports.html The number of cases of measles among children under five increased from around 9,000 in just over three months from the start of 2023 to early April 2023, to around 13,000 in the same period this year.

[3] https://reliefweb.int/report/afghanistan/humanitarian-action-children-2024-afghanistan

[4] https://data.unicef.org/topic/child-survival/under-five-mortality/#:~:text=Globally%2C%20infectious%20diseases%2C%20including%20pneumonia,View%20project%20in%20full%20screen.

Source: Save The Children

LONDON/GENEVA, 30 April 2024 – It will take another 60 years to meet a global target to eliminate of all forms of corporal punishment unless the current rate of progress is sped up [1], according to Save the Children analysis released on the International Day to End Corporal Punishment.

United Nations’ member states agreed to a 2030 target for the universal prohibition of corporal punishment as part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) signed in 2015 to tackle poverty and inequality. However, progress has been slow with about two countries per year enacting a ban, leaving the world far behind its ambitions.

Corporal punishment is the most common form of violence against children worldwide with around 4 in 5 children aged between 2 and 14 experiencing corporal punishment in their home every year [2].

Only 15% of children globally – an estimated 320 million children – are fully protected by law from corporal punishment, with about 66 of around 193 states banning corporal punishment in all settings. Just 20 countries have prohibited corporal punishment in the nine years since the SDGs were adopted, compared with 30 countries in the nine years before 2015. 

A further 27 countries have publicly committed to reforming their laws – which if enacted, would protect a further 288 million children [3].

Corporal punishment takes many forms, including smacking or slapping, kicking, shaking, burning and forcing children to stay in uncomfortable positions. It also includes non-physical humiliating treatment which belittles the child.

Globally, the physical and mental punishment of children at the hands of parents, teachers and caregivers leads to the deaths of thousands of children every year with many more seriously injured. It also results in the diminished psychosocial wellbeing of countless children and has a profound impact on their healthy development.

Steve Miller, Save the Children’s Global Director Child Protection, said:

 “It’s time to accelerate progress. With the target of global prohibition by 2030, we have 6 years – not 60 – to fully protect children from violent punishment. Corporal punishment is a violation of children’s rights, and its widespread social acceptance normalises a level of violence throughout childhood that can lead to other forms of violence and mistreatment. We call on all countries to prohibit all forms of corporal punishment against children in all settings by 2030 and to listen to children in order to create change.

Corporal punishment has a devastating and long-term impact on children and the lack of progress in addressing this issue is a global concern.We have an opportunity with the first ministerial conference on ending violence against children taking place later this year to make a concerted effort in achieving the 2030 target.

Any country that prohibits corporal punishment is sending a strong message that they are listening to children. Prohibition makes it clear that children’s rights are respected. It makes it clear that there is nothing acceptable about subjecting children to physical or mental abuse in the home or elsewhere.”

Lack of progress is a global concern. Around half of high-income countries are yet to implement full legal protection, compared to about 70% of middle-income countries and more than 90% of low-income countries [4].

Save the Children’s ‘Safe Families’ programme helps parents to change the relationship with their children from one of power and control to one of mutual understanding and problem solving. We run parallel sessions for parents and children, and instead of a set of fixed instructions, we focus on building stronger families.

ENDS

Notes to editors:

[1] The 60 years calculation is based on the rate of progress in outlawing corporal punishment in all settings including the home, from September 2015 when the UN Sustainable Development Goals were agreed. In the almost nine years since, a further 20 countries have agreed to ban corporal punishment against children in all settings, making a rate of around two countries per year. To date, 66 of around 200 states have banned corporal punishment in all settings.

[2] https://www.end-violence.org/ending-corporal-punishment

[3]  Child population data taken from the latest UN World Population Prospects

[4]  Country income groupings as per the World Bank.

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For interview requests or further information, please contact:

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Source: Save The Children

Source: Save The Children

Children walk down the destroyed streets of Khan Younis, Gaza [ Sacha Myers/ Save the Children]. More content here.

KHAN YOUNIS, 25 April 2024 – Children are living amid rubble in streets of total devastation in Khan Younis, the second largest city in Gaza, according to Save the Children staff returning to the city for the first time since the war started over six months ago.  

Prior to the 7 October attacks and war in Gaza, the city in the southern part of the Gaza Strip had a population of more than 200,000 people, including about 100,000 children.  

Now Khan Younis is a ghost town, with people returning in small numbers to protect what remains of their properties or retrieve belongings while lone children roam the streets seeking water and other supplies. Media have recently reported that satellite pictures show rows of tents on a site to the west of Khan Younis. 

 

Sacha Myers, a Save the Children spokesperson, has been an aid worker for more than 14 years, and has worked in dozens of disasters including the aftermath of Cyclone Idai in Mozambique and the re-taking of Mosul in Iraq.  

 Sacha travelled with Karyn Beattie, Save the Children Team Leader in Gaza to Khan Younis this month to assess the damage, road access to key areas, and check on the number of people returning.  

 

 

Karyn Beattie, Gaza Team Leader, assesses the destruction in Khan Younis [ Sacha Myers / Save the Children] 

 

Sacha described the scenes as apocalyptic:  

“I actually felt physically sick – my body’s reaction to seeing this absolute brutality, for this total disregard for human life.  

“I’ve been to a lot of warzones and disasters, but I’ve never been in a situation where as far as the eye can see, every building is rubble. In some conflicts, you will see devastation, but there are gaps between damage and buildings still standing. Here – you turn 360 degrees – every single building is either severely damaged or rubble on the ground. And not just one or two streets, but dozens of streets. It’s everywhere.

“I was also struck by the numbers of lone children. You are driving through what feels like an empty street and then suddenly you see children climbing out of the rubble. I saw so many children carrying containers, I guess of water – I don’t know for how far they were carrying them – all by themselves, through these destroyed streets. You could see the containers were heavy and hard for the little kids to manage. It was eerie and terrible to see so many children by themselves, knowing how dangerous it is to be in those collapsed and semi collapsed buildings.”   

 

Karyn Beattie, Save the Children’s Team Leader in Gaza, said of the mission:  

“We are all completely in shock at the level of destruction.  

“We are all just so angry at what has happened and the extent of the damage. How is it possible to raze a city like this? And seeing the schools totally destroyed – with the coloured murals on the sides –and knowing that children may have been killed in them. How can you not be angry? 

“These buildings are the life blood of a society. They are the foundations that make a community and a country and speak to its future. The money and time it will take to rebuild… if the bombs stop falling… will be crippling. A generation of children, if they survive, will have nowhere to learn from and nowhere to go.”  

 

Recent attempts by families to return to their homes in Khan Younis and further north in Gaza speak to the dire conditions faced by families across the Strip. These were areas hardest hit by airstrikes, where aid is most restricted and basic services non-existent. Parties to the conflict have legal obligations to protect civilians, wherever they are in Gaza. 

Save the Children is assessing the feasibility of establishing a primary health care clinic in Deir Al Balah in central Gaza and the coastal zones, preparing for any potential movement of people further north in the future.  

 

Despite the significant challenges, Save the Children remains operational in northern Gaza through a local partner which is running recreational activities with children across 13 shelters and has conducted an awareness-raising campaign about protective measures for unaccompanied and separated children. 

 

Multimedia content available here.

 

For further enquiries please contact:

Randa Ghazy, Regional Media Manager for North Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Europe: Randa.Ghazy@savethechildren.org;

Our media out of hours (BST) contact is media@savethechildren.org.uk / +44(0)7831 650409

Please also check our Twitter account @Save_GlobalNews for news alerts, quotes, statements, and location Vlogs.

Source: Save The Children

Three young girls dressed in red look out towards the sea in Rafah, Gaza. Soraya Ali/Save the Children

Originally posted in the Express.

Words by Soraya Ali, an award-wining humanitarian and journalist serving as Save the Children’s MENAEE Global Media Manager based in Amman, Jordan. Soraya was in Gaza at the start of April, documenting the impact of the war on children, capturing the Save the Children response, and speaking to families impacted by the conflict.

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On my first day in Rafah, Gaza, my colleague Hawa*’s mother had a stroke. With no ambulance available, her mother was driven to a partially functioning hospital. She died two days later. “The sadness from this war killed her,” Hawa later told me.

I arrived in Gaza with Save the Children – as part of a convoy of paediatricians, surgeons, and fellow aid workers – to support children affected by the growing humanitarian catastrophe. Nothing could prepare us for what we’d witness.

Of course, our Palestinian colleagues, like Hawa, have long been tirelessly serving their communities, even amidst personal tragedy. 

Most of our staff have been forcibly displaced, many have lost close relatives, and all have been impacted by the war. Sameh Ewida, a longstanding member of the Gaza office, was killed along with his entire family by an Israeli airstrike in December.

The brutal war in Gaza has killed over 33,000 people including at least 13,900 children, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza.

Israeli airstrikes have killed doctors, nurses, teachers and humanitarian workers.

All at a time when needs have never been higher.

Canned food being heated over an open fire. Bisan/Save the Children

‘Trying to stay alive’

The scenes I witnessed in Rafah will stay with me forever. The small city, home to 275,000 people before the war, is now housing an estimated 1.5 million Palestinians, the majority of whom are women and children.

Drones are constantly flying overhead, their relentless buzzing a grim reminder of the threat to children. When the humming gets closer, an explosion rattles the streets, usually no less than a few kilometres away.

The sheer number of children wandering the streets was overwhelming, almost apocalyptic. Children with no shoes, visibly malnourished and often alone.

As of February, at least 17,000 children in Gaza were unaccompanied or separated, according to UNICEF. That figure is likely far higher now. Doctors were even forced to coin a depressing new term to identify them in hospital – “WCNSF” Wounded Child, No Surviving Family.

Diseases and infections are also spreading rapidly. But with limited time and resources, healthcare professionals are rarely able to give formal diagnoses.

At a mobile hospital, I saw children with rashes, many experiencing vomiting and suffering from bloody diarrhoea. “We’re seeing scabies, lice and hepatitis,” said one doctor.

Beyond disease, the life-changing wounds are impossible to miss.

“We even treated a pregnant woman with a gunshot wound to her stomach,” one doctor shared. 

I met one boy, no older than 12, pushing his younger sibling in a wheelchair. The small child was visibly dirty, wearing ripped clothes and missing a leg – one of the more than 1,000 children who’ve lost one or more limb since the start of the war according to UNICEF, as of December.

They were going “nowhere,” he explained – schools have been closed or destroyed since October.

Children in Gaza spend their days trying to stay alive, sheltering from bombardment or searching for food and water. One group of children, playing with an old plastic bag, begged for food, or “even a football” to pass the time. 

Children here face a bleak reality of malnutrition, disease, and despair – if not death.

Rubble and destruction in Rafah, Gaza. Bisan/Save the Children

Too dangerous to get food

“So many people have been killed, we do not even get a chance to mourn,” my colleague Zainab* explained.

Last week, her husband made it to Rafah after being trapped in Northern Gaza. His 70-year-old father, who has Alzheimer’s and cancer, was unable to evacuate and so he stayed.

“I was forced to eat food left behind by the rats,” he revealed.

“Going out to find food was simply too dangerous,” he said, explaining how he narrowly missed the deadly attack that killed over 100 Palestinians desperately trying to collect flour.

More than 400 Palestinians have been killed and 1,300 injured by Israeli attacks while trying to secure lifesaving food, medicine and other aid for their families, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health.

‘There is simply no excuse’

Getting aid into and around Gaza is extremely challenging, with restrictions at every turn. 

Historically, any aid entering must be cleared by Israel, which rejects items purportedly deemed to have potential “dual use”—whether civilian or military.

In recent weeks, we’ve seen entire trucks being turned away under this rule for transporting items as small as a pack of dates or a pair of scissors. Even when aid manages to reach Gaza, challenges persist: there’s a scarcity of fuel, heightened risks, and insufficient safety assurances for the aid workers responsible for its delivery.

There is simply no excuse for the shockingly inadequate levels aid in Gaza. We need to see much more aid getting in much quicker – and most of all we need an immediate and permanent ceasefire.        

Time has run out

Before October 7th, around 80% of Gaza’s population depended on humanitarian assistance. Now, the need is greater than ever. Without a ceasefire and full, unrestricted access to aid, children will continue to suffer.

Nearly 26,000 children – or just over two percent of Gaza’s child population – have been killed or injured in Gaza in six months of a war, according to Save the Children.

The deaths of these children are a consequence of the world’s failure to protect them. The international community must urgently step up its efforts—time has run out.

The only thing that will save families in Gaza now is a definitive ceasefire. The UN Security Council demanded a temporary ceasefire, but the window for its implementation – the Muslim fasting period of Ramadan – passed without progress. More children have paid the cost for that inaction with their lives. A ceasefire must be implemented now and sustained definitively – there is no alternative.

Israel’s continued use of explosive weapons in densely populated areas has devastating impacts on children, who are thrown harder and further by the blasts. Countries must immediately cease the transfer to the parties to the conflict of weapons, parts, and ammunition that pose a risk of being used to commit serious violations of international humanitarian or human rights law. Anything less than this is not merely a failure—it’s a betrayal of humanity.

Support children living in conflict by donating to our Children’s Emergency Fund today

Source: Save The Children

An empty classroom in Bangladesh, where schools are shut due to extreme heat. Photo by MD. Abdur Razzak/Save the Children

DHAKA, 25 April 2024 –Extreme heat has forced the closure of all schools in Bangladesh this week, impacting 33 million children, as temperatures soared to 42°C (108 F), 16 degrees more than the annual average, Save the Children said.

This is the second consecutive year that Bangladesh has been forced to close schools and comes just weeks after heat-induced school closures in both the Philippines and South Sudan. This shows how children’s rights are increasingly under threat from the intensifying impacts of the climate crisis, Save the Children said.

Bangladesh is one of the countries most vulnerable to the impacts of the climate crisis, with the Global Climate Risk Index classifying the low-lying country as the seventh most extreme disaster risk-prone country in the world in 2021. Tropical cyclones, floods and coastal erosion are common, and last year, Bangladesh experienced its worst-ever dengue outbreak which killed more than 1,000 people. Experts blamed the outbreak on the climate crisis and El Nino-driven weather patterns which created an extraordinarily wet monsoon season.

Like in many parts of the world, rising temperatures are also causing extreme heatwaves and drought in the country, with the government closing primary and secondary schools in June last year due to heat. A total of 33 million of Bangladesh’s 54 million children are enrolled in school.

More than 1 billion children, about half the world’s 2.4 billion children, live in countries highly susceptible to – and in many cases already experiencing – the effects of climate change. Children affected by poverty and inequality are even more vulnerable, with Save the Children research showing that one third of the world’s child population live with the dual impacts of poverty and high climate risk.

The high temperatures have prompted Bangladesh’s health ministry to issue guidelines to help people in the world’s eighth most populated country to cope and avoid heat stroke. They include drinking 2.5 – 3 litres of water a day and to rest in shaded areas.

Save the Children is distributing safe drinking water to the worst hotspots and has arranged heatwave awareness campaigns for children and parents as well as developing health advisory messages that have been shared through posters and leaflets in the capital Dhaka and two districts in the country’s north.

In Bangladesh’s drought-prone northwestern Kurigram district, Save the Children has distributed drought-tolerant seeds to farmers, demonstrated irrigation techniques and helped some 120 of the most vulnerable families with cash support.

Shumon Sengupta, Country Director Bangladesh, Save the Children International, said:

“Missing school draws children into a spiral of risk. They are more likely to be forced into child labour, and adolescent girls are particularly at risk of gender-based violence, child marriage and teenage pregnancy, which increases the longer they are out of school. The same risks directly impact their ability to return to school at all.

“Extreme heat jeopardises children’s physical and mental health – and it also has a significant impact on education. Even when classrooms are still open, children struggle to concentrate – US-based research suggests that each degree Fahrenheit increase in temperature throughout a school year reduces the amount learned by 1%.

“Children in Bangladesh are among the poorest in the world, and heat-related school closures should ring alarm bells for us all. Leaders need to act now to urgently reduce warming temperatures, as well as factoring children – particularly those affected by poverty, inequality and discrimination – into decision making and climate finance.”

Last year, 2023, was the planet’s hottest year since records began in 1850 and saw global temperatures rise 1.18°C (2.12°F) above the 20th-century average of 13.9°C (57.0°F).

Save the Children has been working in Bangladesh for more than 50 years. Together with government, civil society organizations and businesses we respond to major emergencies, deliver development programmes and ensure that children’s voices are heard through our campaigning to build a better future.

ENDS

For further enquiries please contact:

Amy Lefevre, Global Media Manager, Asia: Amy.Lefevre@savethechildren.org

Emily Wight, Global Media Manager: Emily.Wight@savethechildren.org

Our media out of hours (BST) contact is media@savethechildren.org.uk / +44(0)7831 650409

Please also check our Twitter account @Save_GlobalNews for news alerts, quotes, statements, and location Vlogs

Source: Save The Children

YAMOUSSOUKRO, Cote d’Ivoire, 25 April 2024 – Equipped with bikes and medical kits, thousands of community health workers in Cote d’Ivoire are tackling malaria by cycling between remote villages to treat children and educate families, reducing cases by up to 70% in some areas so far this year.

With progress in reducing malaria grinding to a standstill globally in recent years, the World Health Organization is using World Malaria Day 2024 on April 25 to try to again accelerate the fight against the mosquito-borne disease that kills about half a million children every year.

According to the WHO, 94% of malaria cases and 95% (580,000) of malaria deaths occur in Sub-Saharan Africa, with children under five most severely impacted, accounting for about 80% of malaria deaths in the region.

Malaria is endemic in Cote d’Ivoire which is listed among the top 10 countries with the most cases of the disease. In 2022 the West African nation which has a population of about 28 million accounted for 3% of all malaria cases globally, according to the WHO malaria report.

In a bid to tackle the disease, a team of about 8,300 community health workers equipped with bikes have become key players in reducing malaria mortality among children under five by diagnosing and treating the disease earlier. Early diagnosis also means that children needing more comprehensive care can be referred to public health centres early enough.

Community health workers like François Kouadio, 46, a father of six himself, are being supported by Save the Children and a group of local partners to make sure families impacted by malaria are reached in a timely way.

He trained as a community health worker in 2015 and runs blood tests on children to test for malaria and, if positive, treats them with paracetamol and malaria tablets. He also provides care for pregnant women in the village to make sure their risk of getting malaria is minimal.

Having a community health worker living in the same village allowed Prisca* to seek help from François quickly. The early diagnosis and treatment, accompanied by François’ daily visit to the family, mean one-year-old Charlene* was saved from malaria and can enjoy playing with her brothers again.

François has been able to scale up his work in recent years due to having a bike, visiting up to eight families a day within a five-kilometre radius. He pedals along dirt roads to rural villages where brick houses stand among green forests. He checks if any children are sick, provides appropriate treatment, while raising awareness about malaria and how to prevent it.

François’s hard work and dedication has won him respect within the community, where people even call him ‘doctor’. Every ding from bells on bikes used by François and three other community health workers brings comfort to the people in the villages knowing that healthcare is accessible.

“I was so scared my daughter might die when she was sick,” Prisca said. “(But) my family could see that the medication was working, and we have confident in the treatment. The community health workers are very kind, they give us the tablets for free, and the children recover from their sickness. They do such a great job at bringing comfort to the people in the village.”

 Francois said from January to March this year, he tested 31 children with fevers, of whom 24 tested positive for malaria and received treatment. This was a massive drop from previous years.

“In the past, between 20 and 30 children were registered with malaria in a month alone, but with more awareness on malaria, almost everyone now sleeps under a mosquito net and malaria cases have dropped significantly,” he said.

François said people shy away from visiting health centres due to a lack of money, but he is dedicated to caring for children and raising awareness about how to prevent malaria after seeing too many deaths from the disease. He not only encourages people to get appropriate treatment but to also protect themselves by using mosquito nets, keeping houses clean, and covering up water storage containers.

Local radio stations are also part of Cote d’Ivoire’s drive to combat malaria, broadcasting messages about how to treat and prevent the disease. Overall, the aim in Cote d’Ivoire is to reduce malaria incidence and mortality by at least 75% by 2025 compared to 2015.

Malaria is an illness spread by female mosquitoes infected with parasites. If untreated, it can be deadly. In 2022, there were an estimated 249 million cases of malaria worldwide, with children younger than five being the most vulnerable. The infection can also lead to substantial risks during pregnancy.

Dr Yssouf Ouattara, Save the Children’s Malaria Project Director in Cote D’Ivoire, said:

“Malaria is preventable and curable, but without access to care it can become deadly – especially for young children. Innovative community health projects like the one run by Save the Children in Cote D’Ivoire are important because the community health workers are able to see and treat children at home and in communities, leading to hugely improved results.”

Save the Children has been working in Cote D’Ivoire since 1991, working across education, health and nutrition, child protection and child rights, and to fight against child poverty. The malaria project is implemented in about 53 health districts in the country and in more than 1,270 health areas, in collaboration with six other organisations.

 

EDITORS NOTE:

The six other organisations involved are:
– ROLPCI (Réseau des Organisations de Lutte contre le Paludisme en Côte d’Ivoire) _Network of Organisations Fighting Malaria in Côte d’Ivoire
– APROSAM (Association pour la Promotion de la Santé de la Femme, de la Mère et de la famille) _Association for the Promotion of Women’s, Mother’s and Family Health
– AIP (Association Ivoirienne pour le Progrès) _ Ivorian Association for Progress
– ARSIP (Alliance des religieux pour la Santé Intégrale et la promotion de la personne Humaine)_ Alliance of Religious for Integral Health and the Promotion of the Human Person
– IRC (International Rescue Committee)
– ASAPSU (Association de Soutien à l’Autopromotion Sanitaire Urbaine) _ Association supporting urban health self-promotion

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Source: Save The Children

PORT-AU-PRINCE, 24 April 2024 – Nearly 600 children a day on average have fled their homes in Port-au-Prince since early March due to gang violence, dodging heavy gunfire and witnessing dead bodies and rape, Save the Children said as the capital faces renewed attacks.

Between 8 March and 9 April, about 95,000 people, including more than 19,300 children, fled their homes in and around the capital, according to the latest International Organization for Migration (IOM) data. Almost two-thirds of people who left Port-au-Prince in the past month have been displaced before, with over half of these having been forced to flee at least twice.   

Gang violence has escalated in the country this week, with reports of gangs calling for homes to be burned, putting more children at risk of displacement.

In the past two years, violence in Haiti has displaced at least 182,000 children, according to the IOM. However, the true number is likely to be much higher. In late February, gang violence started spiralling out of control, pushing the government to the brink of collapse, and disrupting humanitarian organisations from delivering aid in areas with active fighting.  

Chantal Sylvie Imbeault, Save the Children’s Country Director in Haiti, said:  

“Children are facing hell trying to escape urban areas controlled by gangs. They are risking their lives every day and witnessing things no one should – heavy gunfire, dead bodies, rape, and forced recruitment by armed groups.  

“Violence is escalating once again this week, with more destruction, displacement, and death likely to follow. Many of the children currently displaced have been forced from their homes at least once before, so any sense of safety they have is being ripped away from them again and again.  

“It is essential humanitarian organisations have unfettered access to deliver aid and save lives in areas affected by active fighting. The international community must also increase its funding to the crisis in Haiti, which is currently only 8% funded. Failure to do so will only result in the situation spilling into other areas of the country, exacerbating the crisis and endangering more lives.” 

Most children and families who have been displaced by gang violence are seeking refuge in displacement camps, schools, and churches. With the rainy season underway, displaced families living in overcrowded camps, especially children also facing hunger, are at a heightened risk of water-borne diseases such as like diarrhea and cholera.  

Hunger is at a record high, with one in five families in Port-au-Prince region one-step away from famine. With gang controlling more than 90% of the city, families are struggling to find and afford nutritious food. Since January, the price of a food basket in Port-au-Prince has soared by 21%.  

All parties must do their utmost to protect children and abide by international humanitarian law. Save the Children is also calling on the international community to urgently increase humanitarian funding for the crisis in Haiti. 

Save the Children is working tirelessly to support children caught in this deadly cycle of violence, poverty, and hunger. Since February, Save the Children has supported over 2,000 children in schools in the South and Grand’Anse regions, victims of the country’s insecurity. 

The child right’s organisation is also providing cash so families can buy food and other essentials, and delivering health and nutrition support, including treating children for malnutrition, and providing nutrition counselling to caregivers. Save the Children has been working in Haiti since 1978, in both urban and rural communities.   

ENDS

Notes to Editor: 

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