The number of pregnant and breastfeeding adolescent girls and women suffering from acute malnutrition has soared from 5.5 million to 6.9 million – or 25 per cent – since 2020 in 12 countries hardest hit by the global food and nutrition crisis, according to this new report by the UNICEF.

The overall maternal mortality rate dropped by 34.3 per cent over a 20-year period -- from 339 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births in 2000 to 223 maternal deaths in 2020, according to this report by the World Health Organization and other UN agencies.

Based on the most comprehensive and up-to-date data, this report provides the first overview of the extent to which countries have school health and nutrition (SHN) policies and programmes in place.

This report provides an analytical insight into the key performance indicators pertaining to maternal health, child health, immunization, coverage of family planning services, adolescent health, and patient services.

In 2021, an estimated 1.9 million babies were stillborn at 28 weeks of pregnancy or later, with a global stillbirth rate of 13.9 stillbirths per 1,000 total births. These losses, however, are not experienced uniformly.

An estimated 5 million children died before their fifth birthday and another 2.1 million children and youth aged between 5–24 years lost their lives in 2021, according to this latest estimates by the United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME).

Poor diets and malnutrition in all its forms are among the greatest global social challenges of our time.

The 21st Century has been marked by increased volatility in food prices, with global price spikes in 2007-08, 2010-11, and again in 2021-22. The impact of food inflation on the risk of child undernutrition is not well understood, however.

559 million children are currently exposed to high heatwave frequency, according to this new research from UNICEF. Further, 624 million children are exposed to one of three other high heat measures - high heatwave duration, high heatwave severity or extreme high temperatures.

This new UN report shows that women’s and children’s health has suffered globally, as the impacts of conflict, the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change converge with devastating effects on prospects for children, young people and women.