COVID-19 continues to have a profound impact on children, families, and communities across the world. While children may not have been affected by disease as much as adults, the indirect effects and impacts pose a clear and present danger, particularly to those most vulnerable. The combination of the movement restrictions, closure of schools, and loss of livelihoods has created a perfect storm that increases the risk of children experiencing physical, emotional and sexual violence, both now and in the months and years to come. 

In this webinar, Tamara Tutnjevic Gorman and Bill Forbes from World Vision International will present findings from the agency’s recent report, COVID-19 Aftershocks: A Perfect Storm, and discuss projections and the latest data collected on the impact of COVID on violence against children. They will also share examples of the World Vision child protection response and offer some practical lessons on implementing interventions during the pandemic.

Due to the rapid spread of COVID-19 around the world, 163 countries have closed schools and more than a billion children have missed out on school.

The result —lost access for many to school meals and other essential social elements necessary to overall well-being.

WHO and PMNCH are launching a new series, Adolescent health and well-being in times of COVID-19, to address the growing need for information and action among global adolescents.

Moderator: Mercy Juma, TV host, human rights & SRHR advocate, HerLiberty Malawi

Keynote: Valentina Baltag, WHO and Chris Castle, UNESCO

Youth speakers: Shutiki Anantha, student, Vidhyaashram High school, Mysore, Karnataka, India Nakasagga Sauba, student, Gulu University, Wakiso, Uganda.

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines self-care as the ability of individuals, families and communities to promote health, prevent disease, maintain health, and to cope with illness and disability with or without the support of a health-care provider.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, when health systems are overwhelmed with the immediate response, and in planning for a sustainable, quality health care delivery post-COVID-19, self-care interventions for health are and will play a major role in ensuring the right to health for all.

Join this first seminar by WHO and the World Bank, discussing the increasing role of self-care interventions to build sustainable health care during and post-COVID-19 pandemic.

Speakers include:

Dr Muhammad Ali Pate, Global Director for Health, Nutrition and Population, World Bank Group and Director, Global Financing Facility for Women, Children and Adolescents

Dr Ian Askew, Director, Department of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Research, WHO

Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho, Minister of Health and Population Welfare, Sindh, Pakistan

Rt. Hon. Helen Clark, Chair of Board, Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health (PMNCH)

In April, the Spanish government was about to loosen lockdown restrictions on Spain’s children, but was compelled to delay the new policy when the Spanish Platform of Children’s NGOs raised safeguarding concerns that government officials had never considered This webinar will examine the Spanish incident as a case study for why governments should consult child protection advisers when loosening COVID 19 lockdown orders and provide practical tools and guidance for persuading governments to give child protection specialists a seat at the table when discussing when and how to reopen.

For more information visit the Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action website.

In April, the Spanish government was about to loosen lockdown restrictions on Spain’s children, but was compelled to delay the new policy when the Spanish Platform of Children’s NGOs raised safeguarding concerns that government officials had never considered This webinar will examine the Spanish incident as a case study for why governments should consult child protection advisers when loosening COVID 19 lockdown orders and provide practical tools and guidance for persuading governments to give child protection specialists a seat at the table when discussing when and how to reopen.

For more information visit the Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action website.

Unite for a Better Life is a gender-transformative program to prevent intimate partner violence (IPV) and HIV. It is delivered by trained facilitators to groups of women, men or couples within the context of the traditional coffee ceremony in rural Ethiopia, or tea talks in the Somali refugee context. Through 16 participatory, skills-building sessions, the program targets the underlying social, cultural and behavioral determinants of IPV in these contexts.

During this webinar, Dr Vandana Sharma and Samuel Gebretsadik highlight lessons and challenges of addressing social norms related to IPV through programing and research in a humanitarian context. They also share preliminary qualitative findings including displacement-related changes in norms and how these informed intervention adaptations.