West and Central Africa

The Gulf of Guinea Joint Response Plan led by WFP, UNICEF, UNHCR and IOM is a humanitarian response plan that interacts with existing development interventions in the northern regions of Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Togo. Its aim is to support national authorities to bridge the gap between humanitarian and development interventions by ensuring…

NEW YORK, 1 December 2023 – Nearly 98,000 adolescent girls aged 10-19 were infected with HIV in 2022 – or 1,900 new infections every week – according to UNICEF’s latest Global Snapshot on Children with HIV and AIDS , released ahead of World AIDS Day. While total infections among girls aged 10-19 have almost halved since 2010 – from 190,000 to 98,…

A major AIDS epidemic is still underway in western and central Africa. Over one quarter (26%) of all children living with HIV globally are in this region, and 4 in every 10 (38%) new infections in children occur there. There have been important gains in the past decade but there are persistent gaps that need focused action. This snapshot provides…

Since the onset of the conflict in Sudan on April 15, Chad faces a massive influx of refugees from Sudan, together with Chadian returnees. According to the latest figures, around 150,000 people had crossed the Chadian border by mid-June, and numbers continue to increase. On 16 and 17 June, following yet another outbreak of violence in El Geneina,…, 13-year old Abdelaziz show the drawing he did while attending a Child-Friendly space in Koufroun, a Chadian village in eastern Chad hosting refugees from Sudan. "I want peace so that I can go home to Sudan" he says., UNICEF/UNI399784/Mahamat A UNICEF staff member interacts with children sitting in a Child-Friendly-Space UNI399790, UNICEF Chad child protection officer Valery Nodjimadji sits with children in a Child-Friendly space in Koufroun, a Chadian village in eastern Chad hosting refugees from Sudan. The Child-Friendly Spaces are run by UNICEF partner the Chadian Red Cross. Children can have fun, enjoy themselves in a safe space and receive psycho-social support., UNICEF/UNI399790/Mahamat Young girls are standing near a newly installed borehole to fetch water UNI399785, Children are fetching water from a UNICEF-installed borehole in the village of Koufroun in eastern Chad, on the border with Sudan. Koufroun is home to thousands of Sudanese refugees. Even before they arrived, the village had poor access to clean water, the borehole helps both refugees and host communities., UNICEF/UNI399785/Mahamat A landscape image featuring children and women with their donkeys near a newly installed water borehole UNI399786, UNICEF has set up boreholes in the villages hosting refugees, for the use of both refugees and host communities., UNICEF/UNI399786/Mahamat A young boy holds a small blackboard in his hands on which he has drawn a house A UNICEF staff member interacts with children sitting in a Child-Friendly-Space Young girls are standing near a newly installed borehole to fetch water A landscape image featuring children and women with their donkeys near a newly installed…

Every year, UNICEF and partners generate a wealth of evidence on the situation of children in Africa. Knowledge and evidence are essential to informing the development, implementation, and monitoring of relevant policies and programmes for the realization of children’s rights. To this end, UNICEF Regional Directors in Africa are pleased December…

DAKAR/GENEVA, 16 January 2019—At a high-level meeting in Dakar, Senegal, UNAIDS, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO) urged countries in western and central Africa to do more to stop new HIV infections among children and adolescents and increase HIV testing and treatment coverage. In 2017, around 67 …

Abdoul Rachid (17, Burkina Faso) HIV stigma and prevention Abdoul Rachid’s talks about his best friend, Souleymane, who was told at an early age he was different from other children and had to take medicines daily. Years later he learned why: he had been infected with HIV at birth. Since then, Souleymane has been an activist for HIV prevention,…

AMSTERDAM/NEW YORK, 25 July 2018 – Around 30 teenagers aged 15 to 19 were newly infected with HIV per hour in 2017, according to a new  UNICEF report . Of these, two-thirds were girls. “This is a crisis of health as well as a crisis of agency,” said UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore. “In most countries, women and girls lack access to…

Women: At the heart of the HIV response for children  offers sobering statistics on the continuing global AIDS epidemic and its impact on the most vulnerable. Last year, 130,000 children and adolescents 19 and under died from AIDS, while 430,000 – almost 50 an hour – were newly infected. Presented at the International AIDS Conference in Amsterdam…

Challenge, Today, children in West and Central Africa have a greater chance of reaching their fifth birthday than ever before. Child deaths have declined by a half over the past 25 years, a significant victory for children and women. However, the vision of keeping every child alive is not in sight yet. The West and Central Africa region accounts for a third…, Resources, UNICEF supports countries to generate evidence on how and where to make the most effective investments for children. Check out our global publications catalogue . For information about cholera, see Regional Cholera Platforms in Africa , bringing together multi-sectoral partners from different organizations involved in cholera prevention,…, Solutions, Every woman, newborn, child, and adolescent should have an equal chance to survive and thrive. This is how we make it happen in West and Central Africa.  , Health, Illustration: Immunization Immunization Almost one third of deaths among children under 5 are preventable by vaccines. UNICEF works with partners to vaccinate children against the six major vaccine-preventable diseases – pertussis, childhood tuberculosis, tetanus, polio, measles and diphtheria. Illustration: Newborn Health Newborn Health UNICEF…, Nutrition, Illustration: Malnutrition Stunting and Malnutrition Stunting and other forms of childhood malnutrition can be defeated. UNICEF and its partners strive to achieve this by using evidence-based interventions, including support for breastfeeding, appropriate complementary foods for infants over six months, and micronutrient supplementation for women…, HIV & AIDS, Illustration: PMTCT Mother-to-Child Transmission UNICEF and its partners help to minimize the risk of HIV transmission from mother to child through a combination of prevention measures such antiretroviral therapy for the HIV-positive mother and her newborn baby, hygienic delivery conditions and safe infant feeding.   Illustration: HIV Treatment…

The West and Central Africa region has one of the world’s highest HIV burdens among children and adolescents, second only to that of Eastern and Southern Africa. Yet, due to its lower HIV prevalence rate, the epidemic has received less attention than in other regions. This report takes stock of the progress and shortfalls in the HIV response in…

ABIDJAN/DAKAR/NEW YORK/GENEVA, 5 December 2017 – More than four decades into the HIV epidemic, four in five children living with HIV in West and Central Africa are still not receiving life-saving antiretroviral therapy, and AIDS-related deaths among adolescents aged 15-19 are on the rise, according to a new report released today.  While…