No choice but childhood
Health Surveillance Assistant Dingase measures 8-month-old Sosten’s arms while his mother, Leah, holds him outside their home in Northern Malawi. Photo credit: UNICEF/UNI919830/Elephant.
Dr Philip Goodwin, CEO of Unicef
| The UK Committee for UNICEF (UNICEF UK)
Investing in childhood and supporting the most vulnerable children around the world isn’t just the right thing to do – it’s one of the smartest choices the UK government can make
Childhood is being cut short by conflict, eroded by poverty and harmed by climate change. With a new Prime Minister and Cabinet, the government must take the opportunity to put children at the top of its foreign policy and international development agenda.
Children are among those most affected by aid reductions worldwide. Without a deliberate and strategic focus on children within the FCDO, spending decisions will ignore their unique needs and vulnerabilities. It’s vital that UK development policy prioritises children’s rights, wellbeing and access to essential services.
The UK has contributed towards significant progress for children globally. But cuts to UK aid will undermine these efforts. In 2024, 4.9 million children died before their 5th birthday – almost half in their first month of life.
While official statistics will be released next March, early modelling predicts that 2025 will be the first year this decade that the under-5 mortality rate increases. UK Official Development Assistance (ODA) allocations published in March reveal that more than half of current funding to African countries will end by 2028-29, despite these being the countries facing the highest burden of child mortality.
Countries like Malawi, which has some of the highest mortality rates in the world, stand to lose 90 per cent of their UK ODA funding. This will undoubtedly have a detrimental impact on health systems that are working to protect children from infectious disease.
Humanitarian funding has been cut by 20 per cent at a time when there are more children impacted by conflict than ever before. One in five children are living in conflict – that’s one in five childhoods upended by fear, violence and displacement.
The climate crisis is a child rights crisis. 1.1 billion children globally are exposed to at least three climate hazards. Climate driven health risks, such as infectious diseases, threaten children’s survival while increasing pressure on health systems that impact economic stability and resilience for all. Sustained child-focused UK investment and leadership is critical.
Investing in children has one of the best returns on investment. Vaccinated children who are in education, well-nourished and protected from conflict and climate shocks are more likely to grow into adults who contribute to society, drive economic growth, and support a more stable world.
Every £1 invested in children through ODA leads to £10 in benefits to their community. Cutting aid does the opposite and risks reversing decades of progress on child immunisation, health, nutrition, and education. The UK must not allow progress to row back any further.
Children don’t choose to be born into conflict, hunger or poverty. But the UK government can choose how to respond. UNICEF UK is calling on the government to choose childhood and prioritise children in its international approach by investing at least 25 per cent of the ODA budget on childhood, with a focus on health, nutrition, and education.
If caring about childhood is ‘yes’ in principle, it should be ‘yes’ in practice. By choosing childhood, we can build better futures for children and help make childhood unstoppable.
Please join us at our stall, at Stand H3, in the Exhibition Hall at Labour Party Conference to learn about UNICEF UK’s work to protect children’s rights around the world.
