In the last 10 years or so, social media has largely evolved into a “digital playground”, with children dominating the space through consumption, creation, and sharing. While it may be uplifting to see children with agency taking up space, they often navigate the “digital playground” without protection, literacy, or power. They are not just exposed…
Children in many countries are growing up surrounded by violence. It may happen at home, in their neighbourhoods, or both. Some children are directly harmed, while others witness violence between caregivers or in their communities. Either way, the impact can be profound. Evidence shows that the relationship between violence exposure and poor mental health can…
Children and young adults are very much involved in campaigning against the climate change that older generations have caused. The global youth climate justice movement uses protests, strikes and court cases to block fossil fuel expansion. But do they have any say in what their governments do to address climate change, or a voice at…
Accra, Ghana — Foundational learning, the ability to read, write, and do basic math, is the bedrock of every child’s education. This is not just an educational failure, but also a development emergency. In Africa specifically, challenges are more pronounced. Too many students are still missing this crucial start. The challenge now is how to…
Study finds that rates soar to 90 percent in some regions as humanitarian crises compound childhood exploitation. Nearly two-thirds of South Sudanese children are engaged in the worst forms of child labour, with rates reaching as high as 90 percent in the hardest-hit regions, according to a government study released with the charity Save the…
A shipwreck off Tunisia that claimed the lives of at least 40 African migrants has once again exposed the lethal risks of irregular sea crossings on routes to Europe, the UN migration agency said on Thursday. The tragedy came amid concerns that worsening conditions for refugees and asylum-seekers in North Africa are pushing more families…
New York — Africa’s health agency has called for urgent action on sickle cell disease, warning that most of the 300,000 babies born with the condition each year on the continent die before their fifth birthday, despite cheap and effective treatments. “Sickle cell disease has silently devastated families across Africa for generations,” said H.E. Dr….
Gavin Butler, Muhamad IrhamBBC Indonesia, Jakarta and Yuli SaputraBBC Indonesia, West Java Yuli Saputra Thousands of school children have suffered food poisoning from a controversial free lunches programme since January More than 1,000 children have fallen ill from free school lunches in Indonesia this week, according to authorities – the latest in a string of…
Ensuring the safety of children in digital spaces — which are becoming increasingly dangerous — is a responsibility shared between governments, academia, civil society, businesses, and families. So says Dr Linda Ncube-Nkomo, CEO of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund, who was speaking at the second International Conference on Children’s Rights, recently hosted by the Nelson…
A new report by the World Bank and UNICEF has revealed that despite global progress in reducing extreme child poverty, Sub-Saharan Africa has seen no improvement in the past decade, with more than half of children in the region still living below the poverty line. The report, ‘Child Poverty: Global, Regional and Select National Trends’,…
