Five ways UNICEF supports adolescent girls’ wellbeing and health
This International Women’s Day, discover UNICEF supplies and services that strengthen adolescent girls and provide them a safe environment to learn and thrive.
Equipped with resources and opportunities to fulfil their potential, the world’s 600 million adolescent girls can become a generation of female change-makers. But most adolescent girls around the word live in poverty, without access to basic services, and face disproportionate discrimination and inequality.
Delivering supplies and services that promote adolescent girls’ health and safety is one of the ways UNICEF works for a gender-equal world where girls and boys enjoy the same rights, resources and opportunities.
Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine
Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer in women, causing more than 300,000 deaths yearly, mainly in low- and middle-income countries.
More than 95 per cent of cervical cancer cases are caused by the human papillomavirus, and these can be prevented by a safe and effective vaccine. Studies have shown an almost 90 per cent reduction in cervical cancer in girls who received the vaccine. UNICEF procures HPV vaccines on behalf of 52 countries.
"Before, I had heard false rumours about the HPV vaccine and I was reluctant. Now I took it because I want to live a long time and I don't want to get sick and die from HPV infections."
Hygiene products
“I was displaced with my family from Gaza City to the city of Rafah in the south of Gaza. I was unable to bring all my belongings with me. This package will help me keep my personal hygiene much better.”
Millions of girls and women are unable to manage their menstrual cycle in a dignified and healthy manner. This has far-reaching consequences as it restricts their mobility and personal choices, affecting school attendance and participation in social life. These challenges are particularly acute in humanitarian crises.
"I used to stay home for up to seven days when I was on my period, missing classes,” says Workalem Weshkaro, from Ethiopia.
Things changed for 16-year-old Workalem when UNICEF opened a menstrual hygiene management room at her school. There girls can rest, wash and receive menstrual counselling and sanitary pads and soaps.
Menstrual health and hygiene interventions, including access to supplies, can help overcome these obstacles. UNICEF procures and delivers various kinds of hygiene and menstrual hygiene products as part of its commitment to improve access to materials and facilities to ensure that adolescent girls and all menstruating individuals can manage their menstruation safely and with dignity.
Water supply
Women and girls aged 15 and older are primarily responsible for water collection in 7 out of 10 households without supply. Girls under 15 are also more likely than boys under 15 to fetch water. In most cases, women and girls make long journeys to collect water, losing time from education, work and leisure, and putting themselves at risk of injury and dangers on the route.
“I used to walk one hour to bring water and had to stand in the queue for one or two hours to get water. I would feel tired and could not find time for my school assignments.”
Zahra, 10, washes her hands at a new water tap installed near her home in Hewad Mena Village, Maidan Wardak Province, Afghanistan. UNICEF completed a solar-powered water supply network in Zahra’s village, and it now supplies clean water to more than 500 families.
UNICEF works to ensure that more communities gain access to water services that are safe, sustainable and able to withstand climate change, conflict and natural disasters. This work includes the installation of man-powered water pumps and the construction of solar-powered supply systems.
Gender-inclusive toilets in schools
Globally, millions of girls and women still lack adequate facilities for menstrual hygiene management. Lack of proper sanitary facilities can affect school attendance among adolescent girls, which can have severe costs on their lives. The lack of separate toilets with doors that can be safely closed or of ways to dispose of used sanitary pads and water to wash hands, means that women and girls face challenges in keeping their menstrual hygiene in a private, safe and dignified manner.
UNICEF’s construction projects aim to reduce the key barriers to girls’ education through building gender-sensitive water, sanitation and hygiene facilities.
Safe environments in the High-Performance Tents
Armed conflict, natural disasters and humanitarian emergencies can drastically weaken a society’s ability to protect women and girls from gender-based violence. UNICEF works worldwide to prevent and respond to gender-based violence in emergencies. Creating spaces where girls and women can gain access to education, critical information, care and protection is one way UNICEF works to prevent and respond to gender-based violence in emergencies.
