Category: New Zealand NGOs

Source: Save The Children

GAZA, 7 December – The intensity of the Government of Israel’s offensive coupled with its ongoing siege have undermined the ability to provide humanitarian assistance, Save the Children said today.

If a definitive ceasefire and the necessary conditions for a humanitarian response are not put in place immediately, more children’s lives will be the cost.

Inger Ashing, Save the Children’s Chief Executive Officer, said:

“We are running out of words to describe the horror unfolding for Gaza’s children. Most of them have been forcibly displaced, squeezed into a tiny sliver of land that cannot accommodate them. Those who haven’t been forced from their homes are cut-off from the basics needed for survival, far away from the little amount of humanitarian assistance that can be delivered.

“Those who have survived the bombardment so far face the imminent risk of starvation and disease. Our teams are telling us of maggots being picked from wounds, and children undergoing amputations without anesthetic. Children are enduring and witnessing horrors, while the world looks on. The level of human suffering is intolerable.

“As humanitarian agencies have been repeatedly warning: there is nowhere safe in Gaza. We have sounded the alarm for weeks and the world has failed to act.

“Humanitarian assistance has become the only lifeline for children and their families since this escalation began – and now, even that is becoming increasingly impossible. We are simply unable to do our job effectively.

“The intensity of hostilities and the weaponisation of aid by the Israeli authorities, including drip-feeding of food, water, and medicine, to a population under siege, mean we simply cannot reach children throughoutGaza at the scale required. Our ability to fulfil our duty to keep our teams safe has been destroyed. Our collective responsibility to protect children has been thwarted. 

“What kind of future will the children who survive the onslaught face? They have lost their families, their homes and schools have been destroyed, they have suffered unimaginable mental harm. We cannot also let them lose hope that the world will act, and that humanity will prevail.

“We must heed the lessons from the past and must prevent ‘atrocity crimes’ from unfolding.

“I received this message from my team in the occupied Palestinian territory today: ‘We are failing the children of Gaza.’ But this is outside of our control. The world has a responsibility to act immediately.”

Save the Children stands ready to scale-up our support to children who will need humanitarian assistance to live to see next week. But the basic conditions to reach families need to be established by the international community.

Save the Children has been providing essential services and support to Palestinian children since 1953. Save the Children’s team in the occupied Palestinian territory has been working around the clock, prepositioning vital supplies to support people in need, and working to find ways to get assistance into Gaza.  

ENDS

Source: Save The Children

Ivan, Andre and Gerald take turn reading a book in Uganda. Save the Children International.

The situation in Uganda

As of June 2023, Uganda was hosting over 1.5 million refugees and asylum seekers. The population of concern includes mainly people from South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Burundi, among others. Refugee Response partners in Uganda play a crucial role in supporting provision of protection services, livelihood assistance, education and resilience solutions to the persons of concern.

Uganda, an early signatory to the Comprehensive Response Refugee Framework (CRRF), has long been lauded by the international community for its progressive refugee policy. Its self-reliance approach permits refugees to work and move freely, allocates plots of land for refugees to cultivate within settlements, and gives refugees equal access to services such as health and education. The country’s generosity towards refugees has earned it a reputation as a model for refugee hosting countries around the world.

However, in 2023, partners face a significant challenge due to underfunding of the refugee support interventions, which is exacerbated by a growing influx of new arrivals. As of November 2023, Uganda received 88,121 new arrivals. Of these, 22,556 individuals arrived from South Sudan, while 22,328 individuals are from DRC. Over 80 % of the new arrivals are women and children.  

Joanita and Safari’s Stories

Joanita, 16, was born to Congolese parents who sought refuge in Uganda over two decades ago due to political instability and conflict in their home country. Joanita was born and raised in Nakivale Refugee Settlement, and Uganda is now her second home.

Despite the many challenges most refugee families face on a daily basis, including significant financial barriers to education, Joanita’s parents work hard to make sure she goes to school. They have taught her the transformative power of education and she recently completed her primary education.

“Most children drop out of school because their parents are not engaged in income generating activities to keep them in school. We need support in form of more classroom blocks and scholastic materials to keep children interested in school especially the girls. Those who drop out end up marrying young.” says Joanita. 

However, even if refugee children are able to enroll in school many still face challenges attending and achieving basic foundational skills. Domestic chores, engagement in income generating activities, hunger and, exposure to child marriage or early pregnancy, incidences of which have increased since food assistance was reduced for the majority of refugees, prevent children from attending school regularly.

School environments are not conducive to achievement of learning outcomes. Overcrowded classrooms, overwhelmed teachers, with short contracts, who need to support to teach learners with varied needs and a lack of teaching and learning materials mean that children are not achieving foundational literacy and numeracy skills.

Many refugee children have not been taught in English before, which is the language of instruction, and experience challenges understanding lesson content as a result.

“We sometimes hear strange sounds while in class because we struggle to understand the language the teachers use to teach us. I wish we were taught by teachers who understand our local language. I want to study hard and become a tailor in future.” says 9-year-old Safari. 

Save the Children’s Impact

Save the Children in Uganda is making sure that thousands of children like Joanita and Safari are able to attend school regularly and achieve good learning outcomes by providing robust support to schools, communities and government, and engaging children in activities that support their learning, well-being and develop their resilience.

Save the Children’s impact is evident in supplementing government efforts to support the education of refugee and host community children.

All of Save the Children’s education programming in the refugee response is aligned to the Government of Uganda’s Education Response Plan 2 for Refugees and Host Communities, and implemented in collaboration with numerous partners and the Government. In 2022 Save the Children’s programming reached 155,402 children (77,296 girls, 78,106 boys) across the country out of which 21,462 children (105,28 girls, 10,934 boys) were from refugee hosting districts.

However, the needs continue to be significant. Families need support to ensure that their children are able to enroll in Early Childhood Education, a service which remains the responsibility of parents and communities, and transition to Primary School. Children enrolled in school don’t have the materials they need to learn, such as books, pens and adequate textbooks. Teachers need continuous professional development to ensure that they are able to integrate remedial learning into day to day teaching and learning.

Anna, 12, learning at her home in Uganda. Save the Children.

Our GRF pledge

Save the Children is one of leading Education in Emergencies actors in the refugee response, delivering high quality and impactful programming that increases access to education and improves children’s learning outcomes by ensuring quality teaching by well-trained and supported teachers, across early childhood education, primary and secondary, including accelerated education programming.

The Government of Uganda is a co-convener at the Global Refugee Forum and has over the last year held a series of roundtable discussions to generate the pledges it will make at the GRF. The government pledges that relate to education are:

• To continue managing and integrating the infrastructure and services specifically in health, education and water aligned with the government requirements in a phased approach. This will call for alignment of partner investments within the National Development Plan and District Development plans
• Commits to put in place a transitional strategy and guidelines to facilitate coordinated transition planning and management.

To support the Government of Uganda, Save the Children pledges to continue to support the inclusion of refugees in Uganda’s national education system, aligning programming to the Uganda Education Response Plan II for Refugees and Host Communities, and through our leadership of the Uganda Education Consortium, prioritizing approaches that ensure transition of learners to the formal education system, including Language Bridging and Accelerated Education.

We will advocate for progressive transition of service delivery, including coding of schools and registration of learners in the Education Management information system (EMIS).

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Source: Save The Children

Alaa*, 5, Luai*, 3, Nasrin*, 9, & Saba*, 5, in their tent village where they live with their 28- year-old mother, Salma*, in Turkey. Save the Children

In December 2023, leaders from across the globe will gather for the 2nd Global Refugee Forum, it is a landmark opportunity to deliver decisive action for refugee children. Earlier this year, Save the Children published a new report – The Price of Hope – detailing the progress made on refugee education since 2019. This blog series is counting down to the start of the GRF on December 13^th with a deeper dive into some of the top refugee hosting countries, for our final week we are taking a closer look at Türkiye.

“Here, they haven’t enrolled in a school yet so they don’t have friends. For example Mahmud had a couple of friends in Ankara. When he played with his classmates he was much happier and more confident.” – Saliha*, 28, about her 10-year-old son Mahumd*. Saliha and her family are benefitting from psychosocial support programs being provided by Save the Children’s partners in Türkiye. Enrolling in school is often the top priority for refugee children and families.

WHAT IS THE SITUATION IN TÜRKIYE?

According to recent UNHCR numbers, Türkiye hosts 3,673,808 refugees, making it the largest refugee-hosting country in the world for the past nine years with the largest populations coming from Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, and Syria. Many Syrian refugees have fled to Türkiye due to its open-door policy for Syrian nationals, stateless persons and refugees that grants temporary protection status and access to services and assistance for benefits. Decades of conflict, natural disasters, chronic poverty, and food insecurity have driven many Afghan refugees to seek safety in Türkiye; a situation amplified by the recent security crisis as many are increasingly approaching authorities for international protection. Despite Türkiye’s long history as a hosting country, the recent politicisation of refugee issues, although the legal framework remains favourable to accepting refugees, has affected social cohesion and polarised opinions.

Türkiye’s Ministry of National Education (MoNE) committed to including Syrian refugees in the national education system in 2017. In principle refugee and asylum-seeking students are mainstreamed into classes with host communities. This promising approach means the enrolment rate gap between refugees and the host communities is shrinking, with recent estimates indicating 70% of refugees are enrolled in education.

BARRIERS TO EDUCATION FOR REFUGEE CHILDREN

However, there are still barriers that restrict full inclusion of refugees. First, having to study in a completely new language can be a significant challenge for many students. Families will often not prioritise the improvement of Turkish language skills due to uncertainty over their situation, and the hope that they can return to Syria soon. Limited Turkish skills not only impacts academic performance but also the ability to integrate with peers. Second, there are financial costs that families may not be able to afford. For many refugee children, especially at secondary level and with poverty highly concentrated among the refugee population, working and dropping out of education is seen as a necessary solution to alleviate these struggles. Third, children who have missed significant periods of education may struggle to catch up to their peers. And fourth, the Covid-19 pandemic and February 2023 earthquake compounded all of these issues. Regarding the latter, many refugee children who are out of school reside in the affected provinces, citing financial constraints and a lack of official documentation as major contributors to their inability to return to school.

INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT NEEDED TO LIFT REFUGEE FAMILIIES OUT OF POVERTY

Türkiye is an upper-middle income country, with an estimate of 80% of refugee households considered below the national poverty line. Earlier this year, Türkiye experienced two devasting earthquakes in the Southeast of the country. The 11 southeast provinces under the state of emergency have some of the highest poverty rates in the country, hosting some 1.75 million of Türkiye’s refugee population, with an estimated 180,000 refugees leaving earthquake affected areas to the rest of the country.

At the 2019 inaugural Global Refugee Forum, Türkiye made four education-specific pledges including increased access for refugees to formal and vocational education. Despite enrolment to Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions by refugee children increasing by 34% in 2023, problems relating to enrolment and long-term absenteeism prevails. To ensure that this pledge is fulfilled, the Ministry needs both financial aid and technical support to increase the quality of TVET services provided both for refugee and host community children.

Refugee children are being denied access to the life-saving and protective impacts of a quality education in a safe school environment. The international community must mobilise at next week’s GRF to deliver bold action that ensures an education for every last refugee child, with a focus on the large refugee populations in countries like Türkiye.

FIVE THINGS SAVE THE CHILDREN WANTS TO SEE AT THE 2023 GLOBAL REFUGEE FORUM

1. Make the promise of the Global Compact on Refugees a reality. The Global Compact provide blueprints to ensure that refugees, as well as host communities, get the support they require to meet their education needs. We must not waste this opportunity.
2. Put refugee children at the heart of the Global Refugee Forum. They are experts on the challenges they face, their safe and meaningful participation must be prioritised.
3. Prioritise matched pledges to advance responsibility sharing. Educating refugee children is a global public good and must be a shared global responsibility.
4. Pledges must be meaningful, accountable and actionable. It is imperative that all pledges include timelines for completion and measurable targets and indicators so that progress can be properly tracked.
5. Focus on the money needed to ensure all refugees have access to quality education. Opening education to all refugee children and including them in national education systems can be achieved at an estimated annual cost of US$4.85 billion globally.

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Source: Save The Children

Save the Children’s campaign launched in Brussels today to draw attention to the dire situation faced by migrant children entering Europe. Photo by Tetiana Sykes/Save the Children

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Brussels, 05 December 2023 – Today Save the Children unveiled a powerful awareness campaign to put the spotlight on the dire situation faced by migrant children arriving in Europe.

As European Union decision makers gather in Brussels to finalise the EU Migration and Asylum Pact, the aid agency is calling for urgent action to prioritise the protection, dignity, human rights, family reunification, and successful integration of these vulnerable children.

As part of the campaign, Save the Children supported child advocates to stage a demonstration in front of the Council of the EU headquarters that hosts the EU Justice and Home Affairs Council, ahead of a “Jumbo Trilogue” on the key legislative files of the Pact on 7 December.

The campaign involves bicycles with banners cycling around the venue of negotiations and digital displays in multiple locations near the Council headquarters as a reminder to policy makers of the situation for children on the move. Messages confronting the EU legislators with the dire reality of children who “who be skipping ropes, not borders” highlighted that an alternative, compassionate approach is possible.

Recent data reveals that one in four people arriving in Europe are children who are escaping conflict, persecution, famine, forced marriages or extreme poverty. The daily reality of these children comes in stark contrast to regular childhood. As they embark on a dangerous journey to safety, children are facing violence and abuse, particularly at Europe’s borders.

Save the Children’s research on the Balkans exposes the extent of brutality against children by border police and smugglers. Children have reported enduring cold conditions, electric shocks, and severe beatings, resulting in serious physical injuries such as fractures and contusions.

Aazar*, a 14-year-old from Afghanistan, shares, “The police in Greece were very angry, they hit us…Croatian police shone flashlights in our eyes, then in front of your eyes [everything] was black.”

Willy Bergogné, Save the Children Europe Director said: 

“This week in Brussels, European leaders are deciding the future of children seeking protection in Europe. These decisions will affect children for years to come. Nothing can justify a child dying or being mistreated.

“Children should be playing hide-and-seek with friends, not with the border police. They should go to playgrounds, not detention centres. The EU must use the Migration Pact to fix its broken and brutal asylum system.

“All children arriving in Europe deserve to feel safe and protected, be with their families and cherish hopes and dreams away from home.

“It’s time for Europe’s long-standing values, the driving force behind human rights standards, to come to the fore again. We need a pact that truly cares for children.”

ENDS

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

• 1 in 4 migrants who have arrived in Europe by the Mediterranean Sea in 2023 were children.
• 90% of people who are granted protection in European countries arrive irregularly, and therefore are forced to use precarious routes across land and sea for lack of a safe way to get to Europe.
• On the way into the EU via Mediterranean routes, 1 in 50 refugees dies or goes missing.
• Child migrants account for four in every 100 deaths in the Mediterranean.
• In the first three months of 2023, 3,300 children (71% of all arrivals) were unaccompanied or separated from parents, exposing them to heightened risks of violence, exploitation, and abuse.
• Since January 2023, 11,600 children, averaging 428 children per week, have arrived on the shores of Italy from North Africa—a twofold increase compared to the same period in 2022.

About Save the Children:

Save the Children is a global child rights organisation working to improve the lives of children in need. We believe every child deserves a future. In Europe and around the world, we do whatever it takes – every day and in times of crisis – so children can fulfil their rights to a healthy start in life, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm. With over 100 years of expertise and programs in 116 countries, we are the world’s first and leading independent children’s organization – transforming lives and the future we share. For more information, visit www.savethechildren.net

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Emily Wight, Emily.Wight@savethechildren.org

Out of GMT hours:  media@savethechildren.org.uk

Source: Save The Children

RAMALLAH, 5 December – The humanitarian disaster in Gaza, in which over one million children are now at risk of being killed, has been compounded by the impacts of climate change, says Save the Children as the Gaza crisis takes a spotlight at the COP28 summit in Dubai.

Prior the escalation of violence on 7 October, the 16-year land, sea and air blockade imposed by the Government of Israel had already accelerated the environmental decline of Gaza and exacerbated unequal access to natural resources, making the population uniquely vulnerable to the impacts of the current crisis.

In particular, the shortage of drinking water in Gaza – now a critical issue for the entire population of 2.3 million people – was already a major concern with families having extremely limited water to drink, forcing some to drink from untreated wells. 

The 16-year-blockade had already limited the entry of goods and materials required to maintain existing, and develop new, water and sanitation infrastructure. Now, the massive and ongoing violence has exacerbated an already dire situation, with the World Health Organisation warning that intense overcrowding and damaged and disrupted health, water, and sanitation systems will lead to a public health emergency.

Mohamad Al Asmar, Advocacy & Resource Mobilization Director for Save the Children in the Middle East, and currently in Dubai attending COP28, said:

“The current crisis in Gaza is both a violent conflict, and a slow-burning eradication of children’s rights, fuelled by international neglect, a failure of leadership, and the climate crisis. The over a million children with their lives on the line in Gaza were already on the frontline of the climate crisis. If you are a child in Gaza, you will have no memory of a life without water shortages, created by political action – the blockade – and inaction – on climate change.

“The health and environmental impacts of climate change cannot be contained within specific territories or across borders, and are likely to impact across the region, including in Israel.

“Again and again, more than one million Palestinian children have been deprived of their basic rights. We need an immediate ceasefire and an end to the blockade as the only way to keep children safe and preserve their future.”

Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory are part of an already water stressed region in the Middle East that is feeling the effects of climate change, with water scarcity set to increase. The region is projected to face the highest increase globally in river floods, crop failures and droughts, and is facing rising temperatures well above the 1.5°C that global leaders have committed to.[1]

The World Bank recently reported that aquifers, the strips main source of water, is facing the negative impacts of rising sea levels and salt water.[2] Water in the West Bank is also under strain. Half of the wells owned by Palestinians have dried up over the last 25 years.[3]

Across the middle east and north Africa, over 10 million children in the region face the triple threat of climate risk, poverty and conflict. [4] Almost 1 million children are living in Gaza, and the ongoing bombardment of north and south of Gaza has forcibly displaced thousands of people and children; facing nearly two months without adequate shelter, water, food and healthcare.

Save the Children has been providing essential services and support to Palestinian children since 1953. Save the Children’s team in the occupied Palestinian territory has been working around the clock, prepositioning vital supplies to support people in need, and working to find ways to get assistance into Gaza.  

-ENDS –

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Source: Save The Children

I have spent the last five days in Gaza, where I’ve witnessed a dire situation becoming catastrophic. 

Whilst visiting a shelter in the south I met a displaced family desperate to find milk for their young baby, whose mother had died, buried under rubble. I met children   who were queuing with hundreds of others for one toilet. I met colleagues working heroically to provide assistance in a shelter where they themselves sought refuge. These stories of untold suffering are sadly the norm in Gaza, where 1.8m people – almost 80 percent of the population – are now homeless and seeking refuge wherever they can.

The seven-day pause in fighting provided some relief for families, enabling them to look for food, to look for loved ones, to take a break from the relentless bombardments. But this was short lived.

As humanitarians, we worked tirelessly to bring in more trucks, to get critical supplies to the hundreds of thousands of people still in the north, and to distribute to the children and their families seeking refuge in the shelters. Yet, this was still insufficient to meet the needs of the 2.3 million people who need life-saving assistance.

As the news spread early Friday morning that the pause was over, hopes of a definitive ceasefire turned to despair. Once again ambulances were transporting casualties to the hospital, and already displaced families were ordered to move once again.

To move to areas that cannot accommodate them.

To move to areas that do not have adequate infrastructure like water and sanitation, shelter or access to basic services. 

To move when there are ongoing airstrikes, shelling and fighting. And through roads so badly damaged and littered with debris of fallen buildings that travelling with the elderly, sick or people with disabilities is all but impossible.

To move to areas that are not safe. Because the reality is that nowhere is safe in Gaza.

Rather than ensuring the safety and survival of families, this order presents families with the inconceivable choice of one death sentence over another.  What I’ve seen and heard this week in Gaza confirms that there is no such thing as a safe zone. It is also against humanitarian international law to forcibly displace a population.

A young child might not understand what is happening, but they see the destruction around them. They see when their homes, schools and communities are destroyed. They hear everything that is happening around them, the air strikes, the cries for help. And they feel the terror, the insecurity and the helplessness.

Humanitarians are driven to do all that we can to protect the rights and preserve life of all civilians, especially children. We are guided by humanitarian principles to protect the most vulnerable and protect humanity. The anticipated expansion of military operations in southern cities like Khan Younis would have catastrophic humanitarian consequences for children, compounded by the current restrictions and impediments that prevent us from doing our job.

We cannot stand by and idly watch the horror in Gaza unfold. The international community must uphold international law, the global rules-based order that was designed to prevent the very violations that we are witnessing.

There is only one right thing to do: a definitive ceasefire to protect all civilians, and unfettered access for humanitarians to deliver assistance to all children in Gaza. The failure for us to do so, would be at the cost of the lives, hopes and futures of all children in the region, condemning them to be trapped in a continuous cycle of violence. 

Source: Save The Children

GAZA, 4 December – Over one million children – or the entire child population – in Gaza have been left with nowhere safe to go as ground military operations began in Khan Younis on Sunday, says Save the Children. Khan Younis is a city in the south of Gaza where the civilian population had previously been told to relocate for safety by Israeli forces, but is now also under attack.

On Friday 1 December, a seven-day pause of hostilities in Gaza expired, and the bombardment resumed, killing over 700 people in one day, including children. Since then, Israeli forces have issued further relocation orders to civilians in the Khan Younis area, directing them west towards the coast, or south to the city of Rafah, while continuing to bombard both areas. Airstrikes have previously damaged residential buildings not only in the north but also in southern cities like Rafah and Khan Younis.

In northern Gaza, hundreds of thousands of families remain stranded and unsafe, and with critical infrastructure and services like hospitals and sanitation decimated, are at risk of starvation, disease, injury and death.

Jason Lee, Save the Children’s Country Director in the occupied Palestinian territory, said:

“I’m in the south of Gaza where children and their families are scrambling for safety. But there is nowhere safe in Gaza. There is nowhere to go. Families are being warned by Israeli authorities to move, once again, forcibly displacing them into smaller and smaller areas with no guarantee of safety or return, and without the necessary infrastructure and access to services to support life.

“Rather than the sham pretence that these orders ensure the safety and survival of families, they instead present families with the inconceivable “choice” of one death sentence over another.

“It is not possible to concentrate large numbers of civilians into such tiny slivers of land without exacerbating an already dire humanitarian catastrophe. Families who survive the bombs are not able to squeeze into the already severely overcrowded shelters, forcing them to set up makeshift tents, with no access to clean water and crumbling sanitation services – putting them at risk of a public health emergency. 

“With homes, schools, hospitals, shelters from the north to the south repeatedly attacked, and all crossings in and out of Gaza closed, relocation orders cannot offer safety – only a smokescreen. World leaders must secure a ceasefire now. Every hour without one, more children will pay the price for broken politics with their lives and futures. There will be no safe place in Gaza until then.”

-ENDS-

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Source: Save The Children

• New Save the Children analysis finds over 5,500 people died from dengue fever across 20 countries hardest hit by the disease in 2023, a year which saw at least five million cases — more than any year over the past five years [1].
• Bangladesh, Peru and Burkina Faso were among the countries with the highest known death tolls, while Brazil had the highest number of known cases.
• An estimated 1.3 billion children globally – over one in two – live in countries where dengue outbreaks are frequent and continuous, and the situation is expected to get worse due to the climate crisis
• Save the Children is urging world leaders on COP28 Health Day (3 December) to take action to fight climate change, which is contributing to spikes in illnesses such as dengue.

DUBAI, 3 December – More dengue fever cases have been recorded so far in 2023 than in the last five years annually, as increasingly extreme weather events fuel the spread of the mosquito-borne illness, said Save the Children.

The aid agency found that there were approximately 5 million cases of dengue fever across 20 of the worst-impacted countries between January and November 2023 [2]. This marked a 30% increase in cases compared to the entirety of 2022 and 18% more than the figures in 2019, when the world saw its most recent major outbreak.

At least 5,500 people were killed by dengue across the 20 countries, up 32% from 2022 and up 11% compared to 2019. The actual number of deaths and cases is likely to be far higher as many cases are not reported.

While a breakdown of child deaths was not available for many countries, children are particularly vulnerable to the disease because their immune systems are weaker than adults and they tend to play outside where there is less protection against the mosquitos. Children under five are at particular risk of developing dehydration and shock from dengue if they contract the illness, and children are most impacted if the illness incapacitates or kills their parents and other caregivers.

Bangladesh, which had the highest known global death toll, faced its worst dengue fever outbreak on record in 2023, with over 300,000 people infected since January, a massive jump from the 62,000 people known to have the illness in 2022. The outbreak resulted in 1,598 deaths—including over 160 children, mostly aged under 10 [4]—with the death toll in 2023 more than five times that of 2022.

In Peru, at least 50 children died and another 80,300 children were infected with the deadly virus this year in the worst epidemic of the disease that the country has seen in over a decade. The country has recorded more than 270,000 cases of dengue in 2023, almost four times the 74,000 cases in 2017, the last El Niño year in the country. The outbreak, which led Peru to declare a state of emergency in 18 of its 24 provinces in February, has been driven by the El Niño phenomenon, which has brought torrential rains, floods and an increase in temperature to the northern regions of Piura and Lambayeque.

In West Africa, Burkina Faso reported 511 dengue deaths this year, marking a sharp rise from the 18 deaths reported in 2017 and 15 in 2016—the last years for which data is available. Probable cases are at almost 50,000, according to the Ministry of Health.

This year’s El Niño event coupled with the climate crisis is understood to have exacerbated the dengue fever outbreak. Although El Niño events are natural and cyclical, its impacts are aggravated by the climate crisis, with storms and floods increasing mosquito populations as they provide them with shallow, stagnant pools where they can reproduce. Dengue can also, however, increase in drought situations as the mosquitoes that transmit the disease are able to survive when water is scarce.

An estimated 1.3 billion children – more than one in two – live in countries or regions within countries that the US Centre for Disease Control says face a frequent or continuous risk of the disease.[3] Dengue fever is a viral infection contracted via mosquito bites and can cause flu-like symptoms, including high fevers, pain behind the eyes, rash, severe headaches and body aches. In the most serious cases it can progress to dengue haemorrhagic fever or dengue shock syndrome, which can be fatal.

Save the Children’s Senior Health and Nutrition Advisor for Asia, Dr Yasir Arafat, said:

“Across Asia, extreme weather events have contributed to making 2023 a devastating year for dengue deaths, throwing the lives of children into disarray. Children are impacted not only as the victims of dengue but by disruption to their education, increased economic and emotional pressure on their families, and when their caregivers contract and die from disease.”

“We need local plans to fight dengue – at village and city level – and with the involvement of communities.  Controlling mosquitos, diagnosing the disease and treatment needs to be a government-wide effort and not just the work of health departments. Funding needs to better anticipate extreme weather and climate shocks to manage the risk and not just the crisis.” 

Save the Children is urging world leaders at COP28, particularly those from high-income countries and historical emitters, to take action to fight climate change, which is contributing to spikes in illnesses such as dengue. The agency is calling on leaders to increase climate finance, directing support to children and families for adaptation to the climate crisis and addressing losses and damages. Governments must recognise children as key agents of change and work urgently to limit temperature rise to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. 

Almost 70% of the global population at risk from dengue resides in the Asia-Pacific region according to the World Health Organisation.  The changing climate and more frequent and extreme weather events are however, fuelling the spread of the disease into new locations and extending dengue seasons in countries where the disease is already present. 

In July, the World Health Organisation reported that dengue has surged eight-fold in just over two decades from around half a million cases in 2000 to more than 4.2 million in 2022. 

Around the world, Save the Children provides public healthcare for children and their families, including treatment for diseases like dengue, and works with schools and communities to improve awareness on how to prevent infection. The agency also works in partnership with the World Mosquito Programme in some countries to help reduce the spread of dengue.

– ENDS – 

NOTES TO EDITORS

[1] Save the Children identified countries that had reported at least 20 dengue deaths in 2023 as of 23 November and looked at the trends of deaths in these countries using data from governments, the World Health Organisation and other international bodies.  This analysis found at least 5,562 people had died of dengue during this period and 5,046,627 cases had been recorded.

[2] The 20 countries with the most reported deaths between January and November 2023, listed from highest to lowest, were: Bangladesh, Brazil, Philippines, Burkina Faso, Indonesia, Peru, Thailand, India, Mexico, Guatemala, Bolivia, Colombia, Malaysia, Argentina, Sudan, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Vietnam, Ecuador and Nepal.

[3] The number of children living in countries at risk of dengue is based on the US CDC’s dengue risk classifications. The CDC defines a country or region with a frequent/continuous risk as one where there is evidence of more than 10 dengue cases in at least three of the previous 10 years. The share of children is based on the most recent UN population estimates as of 2023. 

[4]The Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh reports figures of children only counted as 15 years and under, so children 16-17 are not included in this figure. 

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For further enquiries please contact:

We can offer spokespeople attending COP28 in Dubai, and we can offer Save the Children’s Senior Health and Nutrition Advisor for Asia, Dr Yasir Arafat, in Bangladesh.

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

DUBAI, December 2, 2023 – The Green Climate Fund (GCF), the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) and Save the Children have today launched an unprecedented US$70 million investment at COP28 to build climate-resilient schools in vulnerable countries.

Climate change is threatening every child’s right to a quality, safe education. Nearly one billion girls and boys – roughly half the world’s children – live in countries at extremely high risk for the harmful effects of climate change.

Every year, climate events interrupt learning for about 40 million children, a figure likely to rise as the intensity and frequency of weather events increase. Altogether, climate change is likely to displace more than 143 million people by 2050, disrupting the education and psychological wellbeing of millions of children.

To address this growing threat, the world’s two largest funds for climate and education have joined forces with Save the Children and partner governments to help millions of children continue to learn safely. Jointly launched at COP28 in the United Arab Emirates, Building the Climate Resilience of Children and Communities through the Education Sector (BRACE) marks the first major investment of climate finance in the education sector.

This ground-breaking financing mechanism will support education systems in vulnerable countries to construct climate-resilient and green schools, integrate climate change in school curricula and provide climate early warnings to schools.

“This partnership between education and climate action testifies to the urgency of protecting children and their education from the impacts of extreme weather,” said Laura Frigenti, GPE Chief Executive Officer.

“To address this daunting challenge, we all need to come together to protect the most vulnerable children, and give them the education they need so they can reinforce our fight against climate change.”

Starting with three countries – Cambodia, South Sudan and Tonga – BRACE will increase the resilience of their education systems through retrofitting and constructing greener and more climate-adaptive schools in line with the international School Safety Framework.

Based on results and lessons from these pilot countries, BRACE will expand its investment pool of school infrastructure projects that GCF, GPE and other donors, including the private sector, can contribute to through additional financing for greener and more climate-resilient education systems.

“GCF is proud to partner with GPE and Save the Children to support children in the face of the climate crisis. The proposed $70 million BRACE investment facility will help bridge an urgent investment gap and equip countries to build safer, greener schools, while developing school curricula that empower future generations to be agents of change amid escalating climate impacts,” said GCF Executive Director, Mafalda Duarte.

“We know children are the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, while being the least responsible for its causes,” said Save the Children CEO Inger Ashing. 

“This initiative will help make four million school children safer and more resilient. We’re proud to partner to help the education sector adapt to the impacts of climate change and keep children safe and learning. It’s a landmark announcement and the first major investment of climate finance in education, including for the Green Climate Fund.”

ENDS

Note to editors:

• The Green Climate Fund is the world’s largest dedicated climate fund. GCF’s mandate is to foster a paradigm shift towards low emission, climate-resilient development pathways in developing countries.  GCF has a portfolio of $13.5 billion USD ($51.8 billion USD including co-financing) delivering transformative climate action in more than 120 countries. It also has a readiness support programme that builds capacity and helps countries develop long-term plans to fight climate change. GCF is an operating entity of the financial mechanism of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and serves the 2015 Paris Agreement, supporting the goal of keeping average global temperature rise well below 2°C.  

• The Global Partnership for Education is a shared commitment to ending the world’s learning crisis. GPE mobilizes partners and funds to support nearly 90 lower-income countries to transform their education systems so that every girl and boy can get the quality education they need to unlock their full potential and contribute to building a better world. 

• As the world’s leading child rights organisation, Save the Children works in 116 countries, tackling climate across everything we do. Through broad collaboration and robust investment, we are rapidly responding to climate related crises and helping build resilience across the world. We support farming families to grow food sustainably and for the long-term, even in the face of our climate crisis, and we provide cash grants, so families can buy food and other essentials. This helps them build basic safety nets, so they don’t have to take desperate measures like pulling children out of school or force their daughters into marriage. We also future-proof communities by providing tools to help them become more resilient to future climate emergencies such as cyclones or droughts.

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For further enquiries please contact:

Save the Children:

Mala Darmadi mala.darmadi@savethechildren.org.au

Soraya Ali at COP28 in Dubai – soraya.ali@savethechildren.org

GCF: Dan McNorton, GCF Media Relations, dmcnorton@gcfund.org

GPE: Tamara Kummer, GPE Head of Communications, tkummer@globalpartnership.org, +1 202 948 5395

We have spokespeople, including child spokespeople, available to speak to media at COP28.

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

RAMALLAH, 1 December – The failure to extend the military pause is a death sentence for children in Gaza, with children already reported injured following return to fighting, said Save the Children.  

Following two extensions of the pause which led to the release of 110 hostages from Gaza and 240 Palestinians detained in Israeli prisons, according to the UN, warring parties have failed to extend the pause or agree to a definitive ceasefire.  

Despite an increase in some supplies entering Gaza during the week-long pause, restrictions and delays to aid delivery remained, and the UN said the volume of incoming commodities was insufficient to meet the extensive needs of the 1.8 million people displaced from their homes.  

Aid agencies including Save the Children reported that the level of humanitarian supplies that could pass the border each day was limited by a lack of fuel and vehicles, damage to infrastructure, as well as screening checks at the border. Two of the three crossings into Gaza – Erez and Kerem Shalom, controlled by Israeli-authorities – remained closed for aid throughout.  

Jason Lee, Save the Children’s Country Director in the occupied Palestinian territory, said: 

“Every time diplomatic efforts fail, we are failing all children in Gaza, Israel and the West Bank.  

“Once again, children in Gaza woke up to the sounds of airstrikes. Once again, they risk being killed by bombs, starvation, disease or dehydration. 56 days of intense violence and destruction have produced one of the worst humanitarian crises ever seen in the region and this seven day-pause hasn’t allowed us to get the aid and staff needed into Gaza to provide lifesaving assistance to the 1.1 million children and their families.  

“Nearly 8,000 children in Gaza have already been killed or are missing, presumed under the rubble [1]. In the hours since the breakdown of the pause this morning, the Ministry of Health in Gaza reported at least 32 people killed and tens of people injured, including children. This is a stain on our collective conscience, and we cannot stand by and let this indefensible toll grow even further. The failure of the international community to take decisive action in stopping the conflict, and restoring the international rules-based order will be at the cost of the lives, hopes and futures of an entire generation of children. 

“The international community cannot accept a return to hostilities, with its relentless destruction and devastating impacts for children. Humanity must prevail. We need a definitive ceasefire now. It is the only way to keep children safe and create conditions that allow us to provide urgent assistance at the speed and scale needed to save lives.” 

-ENDS–

Notes to Editor 

[1] According to the Government Media Office (GMO) in Gaza, since the start of hostilities, more than 15,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, including about 6,150 children and 4,000 women. In addition, UNICEF reported more than 4,500 people, including at least 1,750 children, were reported missing presumed under the rubble, as of 20 November. 

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For further enquiries please contact:

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.