In both ordinary times and times of crisis, one of the best ways to tackle many of the issues facing the world today — from poverty to gender-based violence to climate change — is to provide primary school-aged girls with a quality education. Despite this, some 122 million girls worldwide are out of school. Too many girls and women are held back by bias, social norms, and expectations influencing the education they receive and the subjects they study. Around the world, 120 million girls — one in 10 — under the age of 20 have experienced sexual violence. Bullying, including gender-based bullying, is a common form of violence taking place in schools. We know that these trends are made worse by the impact of crisis, conflict and climate change on women and girls.
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Creating inclusive workplaces for people with disabilities
An Interview with
Habtamu Buli, Disability Inclusion Technical Officer, Gender, Equity and Social Inclusion, FHI 360
Elise Young, Senior Technical Advisor, Gender, Equity and Social Inclusion, FHI 360
Organizations are at their best when they welcome, respect and include people of all backgrounds, including people with disabilities. At FHI 360, we prioritize disability inclusion and are continuously working to strengthen our practices and culture. But we know our work is not — and will never be — done.
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While disparities have long existed in education, the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic have made them even more apparent.
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For the past 10 years, the number of undernourished people in the world has been increasing at an alarming rate. In 2022, around one-third of the world’s population did not have reliable access to nutritious, safe and sufficient food. Undernutrition is the greatest threat to child survival globally: Nearly half of all deaths among children under 5 are linked to undernutrition. What’s more, undernutrition chips away at all the other development gains we value: building strong economies, educating children, treating diseases and promoting good health.
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Undernutrition is associated with 45% of child deaths worldwide, according to the World Health Organization. Supporting women who are able to breastfeed is essential to preventing child deaths. More than 820,000 children under 5 years old could be saved each year if all children were optimally breastfed in their first two years of life. The importance of fathers’ support in this endeavor cannot be understated.
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To help reach the UNAIDS 95-95-95 targets by 2025, the public health community must ensure that people living with HIV have access to antiretroviral therapy (ART). Access to this lifesaving medication is one issue; staying on it is another, because continuing ART is not always possible due to a variety of circumstances. In a project FHI 360 recently concluded in Nigeria, we demonstrated how machine learning can complement the efforts of health care workers to help people stay on ART.
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Conflict, forced relocation and climate change have disrupted the lives of millions of people around the world. In Ukraine, for example, a year of armed conflict has resulted in the displacement of more than 13 million people and the destruction of much of the nation’s infrastructure, including schools and universities. As a result, the education of many young Ukrainians has been interrupted, as has their ability to build their futures.
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Evidence at the speed of tech
Written by
There are over 200 million women around the world who do not wish to become pregnant and who are not currently using contraception. Helping women to avoid unplanned pregnancies is a best bet in development: It reduces maternal and child death and injury, helps girls stay in school longer, and results in economic growth.
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Antibiotics are the first line of defense in protecting humans and animals against bacteria and other microbes. Microbes, like humans, want to survive. They can do that by mutating to adapt to their changing environment, unfavorable conditions and any threats they encounter — threats such as antibiotics.
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On a sunny August day in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, a dozen people ages 15–24 sit in a circle on the grass outside of the Prek Leap National Institute of Agriculture. They aren’t discussing the latest viral video or school gossip. Rather, they are exploring how communication strategies can help their families, peers and communities understand the negative effects of some of Cambodia’s most environmentally damaging behavior trends — and how they can live more environmentally friendly lives.