Profiles

Using survey data from 103 UNICEF field offices across the world, this paper aims to provide a general overview of the NPA decentralisation phenomenon - where and how it is occurring, the roles of the major actors and the results that have been achieved to date.

The COVID Vaccine Race has been nothing short of a scientific triumph. In just under a year the unimaginable has happened, with not just one but several different vaccines tested, transported and delivered to millions around the world to protect them against a virus that has brought the world to a standstill.But the global rollout has not been without its travails and has highlighted long-standing inequities between wealthy and less affluent countries. With demand for COVID vaccines outstripping supply, concerns over possible side effects, and new variants of the virus emerging, the vaccine rollout has hit a massive speedbump. Equitable and sustainable solutions to the COVID pandemic have never been more pressing.To mark World Immunization Week and address the global COVID vaccine challenge, UNICEF Innocenti’s Leading Minds will ask the high level panel how we keep up the momentum of the vaccine race while leaving no one behind; solutions to simplify complex trade barriers on intellectual property rights and technology transfer; and how can we develop vaccine manufacturing capacity where it is needed most.Register hereThe Governments of Norway and South Africa are co-leads of the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator whose purpose is to foster an equitable distribution of COVID-19 tools, particularly to those who need them most, and the fair allocation for COVID-19 vaccines through COVAX which should not be determined by where they live.Panelists:Dr Zweli Mkhize, Minister of Health, Government of South AfricaDag-Inge Ulstein  Minister of Development and Co-operation, Government of NorwayDr Soumya Swaminathan, Chief Scientist, WHOHenriette Fore, Executive Director, UNICEFRegister here

Time is fast ticking for a looming debt crisis that threatens to decimate decades of progress for children.The debt crisis is likely to hit two-thirds of the world’s population. Even before the pandemic 1 in 8 countries spent more on debt than on education, health and social spending combined. And African countries are already spending three times more on debt repayments to banks and private lenders than it would cost to vaccinate the entire continent against Covid-19.So how can this ticking time bomb be defused?To coincide with the release of an important policy brief from UNICEF on the debt crisis, Leading Minds will ask the expert panelists:How do we stop mortgaging children’s futures?Can debt relief measures turn this tide?