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Alongside the Covid-19 epidemic, another alarming but less noticed epidemic has taken hold in the East Asia and Pacific region: an epidemic of child overweight and obesity. We are witnessing a transition from active lifestyles and traditional healthy fresh food diets to ever increasing consumption of highly processed food and drink heavy in unhealthy fat, sugar and salt. Rapidly increasing overweight in children is the alarming result. In 2000, less than 1 in 10 children in the region were overweight; today it is 1 in 4 and rising. It is easy to blame children or their families for this, but ..read more

To help improve coverage and ensure that all children in Indonesia realize their right to birth registration, individuals can be agents of change. Birth registration champions are putting tremendous efforts to ensure every child in the country is registered. Meet Ibu Sucriah and Jasmine, two of these champions who have contributed to give legal identity to ‘invisible’ children.   Ibu Sucriah: A Devoted Teacher Helping Students to Get Registered   Ibu Sucriah has been a teacher since 1978 and a school principal since 2013. As headmaster of primary school (SD 68) in Lamugugob, Banda Ac ..read more

A generation of children in East Asia and the Pacific is growing up surrounded by advertisements and promotions for food and drink. Images of oversized burgers and ice-cold drinks jostle for space in shopping malls, on public transport and TV, at sports events, in schools and increasingly on social media. The promotions are enticing: ‘Up to 60% off!’, ‘Buy 2 for 1!’, ‘Free toy!’. The slogans and images suggest happiness and joy, love and health with the first bite or sip. A new video highlights the scale and impact of food marketing on children in the region. Are these highly-processed, h ..read more

Linh Thuy Dang, 23, is a young and passionate disability activist from Viet Nam. She is currently a Disability Coordinator at Blue Dragon’s Children Foundation – a non-profit organization working with children in street situations, children with disabilities and victims of human trafficking. She is also engaging in disability research and activism projects collaborated by international researchers from Canada, South Africa and India and Organizations of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs) in Viet Nam. Recently, she has become a member of the Young People’s Action Team (YPAT) of the Global Generat ..read more

“Safe sanitation for all is a significant investment, but the economic benefits of sanitation have been estimated at 5 times the cost. Improved sanitation also benefits businesses: it improves productivity, talent recruitment, and business climate, as well as increases consumer purchasing power and reduces water treatment costs.” said Karin Hulshof, Regional Director, UNICEF East Asia and Pacific. The global pandemic has reminded the world that water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) is one of the most simple and cost-effective measures to beat infectious diseases like COVID-19. However, an ..read more

The concept of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, or “WASH”, is something that few young people are likely to be aware of, let alone be passionate about. But in a world  afflicted by COVID-19, with a changing climate, and persistent problems in basic sanitation services in developing countries – some young people  are stepping forward into this critical space to be the drivers of innovation and change. UNICEF’s WASH Young Changemakers Programme  was created to identify, support, and celebrate young innovators in the WASH sector, and this year launched its second edition. We recently ..read more

In the East Asia and Pacific region, obesity-promoting environments are driving an epidemic of child overweight and obesity through the increasing promotion and sale of unhealthy food and drink. Food retail businesses play an important role in shaping the food retail environment through their marketing practices, which ultimately influence dietary preferences and consumption patterns. What is a food retail environment? It encompasses all the places where adults and children buy and consume food. But a major shift is taking place: fresh food markets are being replaced by supermarkets; restauran ..read more

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the weaknesses of our current water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) systems in many places across the East Asia and Pacific region. Too many children and their families have faced ‘lockdowns’ in homes without running water, soap for handwashing, or private household toilets that are not shared with others. The pandemic is far from over. Continuing to respond to  and eventually recover from it will require different solutions and new thinking to expand life-saving water, sanitation, and hygiene services to everyone who needs them. This is where young people ..read more

Businesses play a crucial but often overlooked role in shaping the world in which children live – through their actions, influence and command of resources. Businesses produce and deliver many vital products and services for child development, sometimes alongside government, as in the case of education and health care. They also impact the economic and social lives of families since they employ children’s caregivers, and, in several sectors in South and East Asia, they employ youth and even children. However, children’s needs rarely drive business decisions, nor do they significantly register ..read more