Child mortality

WHO plans to update the recommendations as new evidence emerges and will work with partners in 2026 to ensure that those with the most urgent needs are prioritised.

With student suicides rising and mental-health challenges deepening, India stands at a critical juncture. Whether schools, policymakers, and families respond with urgency – or continue to treat emotional distress as an afterthought – may determine the fate of millions of young people across the country.

It demands not just emergency medical resources, but long-term planning – from urban infrastructure to water governance – to break the cycle of mosquito-borne disease.

In a landmark public health achievement, the World Health Organization (WHO) has validated the Maldives for eliminating mother-to-child transmission (EMTCT) of hepatitis B.

The launch, done together with the Ministry of Health and UNICEF in Bhutan,  coincides with UNICEF’s new global child nutrition report, which finds that overweight and obesity are rising fast among children, including in Bhutan.

With each mother who learns to cook a new, nutritious meal, and each spoonful of semolina porridge lovingly fed to a child, the cycle of poverty and poor health begins to break.

Combined, malaria and malnutrition constitute a “double health burden” that traps the most vulnerable – especially children under five years of age – in a deadly cycle.

In 2023 alone, roughly 260,000 women worldwide died during or shortly after childbirth, with 22 per cent (about 58,000 maternal deaths) occurring in the Asia-Pacific – many of which were preventable with timely midwife-led care.