On October 11, 2020, International Day of the Girl child celebrates the importance, power and potential of girls around the world to support improved prospects for them.
Today, Sunday October 11, 2020, we celebrate International Day of the Girl, different from International Women's Day, which we celebrate every May 8. This day aims to highlight needs girls and the particular problems they may face in order to respond to them, find solutions but also make their rights known.
This day also helps to raise public awareness of the inequalities they suffer from around the world because of their female gender. These inequalities include access to education, nutrition, legal rights, health care, protection against discrimination, violence against women and forced marriage. Indeed, in the world, these are 12 million girls who are married before the age of 18 every year. One in five girls in the world has been a victim of sexual violence. In eastern and southern Africa, nearly 80% of new HIV infections among adolescents are among girls.
The 2020 theme for International Day of the Girl Child is "My voice, our equal future" so that every child can have a chance to speak up and talk about issues that affect them.
While the health and well-being of girls is a priority for WHO, the organization assures us thatno decision for girls should be made without them. “We need to come together to improve the lives and health of girls, but girls themselves need to be at the center of this effort. I am happy to say that we will soon be launching a Youth Council to engage with them. WHO leadership on global health issues."said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO.
The Covid-19 pandemic represents a huge challenge for adolescents and young people, especially for girls and young women as the health crisis tends to widen inequalities even more between the sexes.
WHO is committed to making young people a key part of the solution to this global crisis. "We need to find better ways to engage young people. We need to give young people a responsibility and a voice in this area, empower them, empower them to do it.", assured Dr Michael Ryan, Executive Director of the WHO Health Emergencies Program.
WHO firmly believes that the next generation is the key to preparing the world of tomorrow. The organization aims to work with young people on an equal basis at local, regional and global levels to find innovative solutions to deal with the current pandemic and other challenges of today and tomorrow.