Child Mortality and Child Migrants in the WHO European Region: Time for Urgent Action

This webinar will present recent concerning trends in child mortality across the WHO European Region, drawing on the latest data from the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME). It will examine growing inequities in health outcomes within and between countries and consider contributing factors such as migration, armed conflict, and socioeconomic instability- forces that increasingly shape health outcomes for children across the region. Policy approaches aimed at reversing these patterns and guiding future action will be explored and considered in the context of building more equitable and resilient child health systems in the region.

Then, it will highlight the increasing number of forcibly displaced children across the European Region and the moral and legal duty of countries to uphold the right to health of all children living within their borders, irrespective of immigration status. It will explore how populist radical right politics, discriminatory policies, health system challenges, care access barriers and data gaps contribute to the failure of many countries to deliver on these obligations. It will present evidence-based alternative approaches to health-harming immigration policies and practices.

This webinar supports the development of a new WHO/UNICEF regional strategy for Child and Adolescent Health in Europe and Central Asia, as part of our Public Health in Practice Special Issue.