Better Care Network highlights recent news pieces related to the issue of children's care around the world. These pieces include newspaper articles, interviews, audio or video clips, campaign launches, and more.
Conflict-related traumas can trigger "elevations in heart rate, breathing and stress hormones related to the fight or flight response. Repeat exposure to toxic stress in that way can affect the developing brain of children, and it has lifelong consequences for learning, behavior and health," says Theresa Betancourt, a professor at the Boston College School of Social Work and director of the Research Program on Children and Adversity.
More than 500,000 people from Ukraine have fled to Romania since Feb. 24. Most have already moved further west, but just under 80,000 remain, primarily women with small children. They are acutely aware of the dangers they could face if they remain in Ukraine.
The Malaysian government does not have any plans to ban underage marriages, but women, family and community development minister Rina Harun says it remains committed to preventing such unions. She said there was a need to manage the issue through education, advocacy, strengthening the family institution and socioeconomic support in the community.
Restrictive border policies undermine the rights and dignity of children and families seeking asylum in the United States. Two years since the U.S. government invoked Title 42 — effectively blocking all legal pathways to safety for migrants fleeing violence, persecution and extreme poverty in their countries of origin — UNICEF USA is renewing the call for its termination.
A drive to vaccinate more than 9 million children against polio has been launched this week in four countries in southern and eastern Africa after an outbreak was confirmed in Malawi.
There is a "huge risk" that Ukrainian children and women fleeing the war may fall victim to human trafficking, the European Union's Home Affairs Commissioner warned on Monday.
While most refugees, especially those from the Kyiv area, have flowed to Poland, an estimated 350,000 have entered Moldova, one of Europe's poorest countries.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on Saturday announced that more than 1.5 million children have fled Ukraine since the Russian invasion began on Feb. 24. The agency warned that the high number of child refugees comes with an increased risk of trafficking as traffickers look to take advantage of chaotic situations such as this.
The Minister of Social Policy of Ukraine Maryna Lazebna said that as of 19 March 2022, 4,894 children from 179 institutions of institutional care have been evacuated. Of these, 2,522 children were relocated within Ukraine, and 2,372 children from 116 institutions were relocated abroad.
Polish businesses have mobilised quickly to help refugees. Two million have already arrived here.