In light of World Mental Health Day – in addition to the reality of a COVID-19 affected world – now is a critical moment to provide vulnerable children and their caregivers with the mental health and psychosocial support and care that they need. Help us pass the Mental Health in International Development and Humanitarian Settings (or MINDS Act) today.
Working to stop and prevent child labor is a key piece of World Vision’s goal to foster hope and build resilience in Central America, so that families have hope for the future and don’t feel pressed into negative coping mechanisms like sending children to work.
Violence has a negative impact on all aspects of people’s lives— physical, emotional, economic, social, and political—and is a key driver for forced migration from Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. Children, youth, and women suffer the most from the impact of violence. Despite pandemic lockdowns and social distance restrictions—and a slight decrease in homicides—news about homicides, disappearances, and recently, the increase of violence against women and children, make the headlines of country newspapers every day. This diminishes the fragile hope for a better future of the Central American people.
Now more than ever, Central America is in need of resilient development and substantial foreign assistance. Central America has attained several development milestones in the past decades, such as poverty reduction and decreased child mortality. However, without resilience the country, community and individual levels, these gains are at risk of succumbing to existing vulnerabilities in the region that have been exacerbated by the pandemic and the impact of the hurricanes in late 2020. Act now to ensure stability and responsiveness in Central America!
Anuradha was only 13 years old and was studying in class eight when she was married off as a child bride. And only a year into marriage, she gave birth to her first child.
Up to 10 million more girls over the next decade are at risk of child marriage as a result of the pandemic. For the first time in almost 30 years, adolescent girls are more, not less, at risk of child marriage.
Thrive’s passage’s will usher in new cooperation among USAID and other agencies in implementing early childhood development interventions!
It may not seem intuitive, but child marriage and maternal and child health are closely linked. Learn how addressing one can help both issues.
Here’s a preview of our issues to advocate for in 2021. Learn more, then come back throughout the year to stand up and speak out!
Education is key to reducing child marriage: A girl’s risk of early marriage is reduced for every year she stays in school. Here’s why.