UNICEF report warns of dual threat to children’s health as infectious diseases surge
Antimicrobial resistance and mass displacement creating ‘perfect storm’ for global child mortality, agency says
UNITED NATIONS — A new UNICEF report warns that children worldwide face escalating risks from infectious diseases driven by two converging crises: the rapid rise of antimicrobial resistance and the collapse of health services in regions overwhelmed by mass displacement.
The “2026 Update Brief: Combating the Rise of Infectious Diseases in Children,” published January 18, paints a stark picture of deteriorating child health indicators across multiple continents, with data showing resistant infections now accounting for one in six common childhood illnesses in some regions.
According to the report, between August and October 2025, data from the World Health Organization’s global antibiotic resistance surveillance system showed a sharp rise in antimicrobial resistance affecting children. Approximately one in six infections—including pneumonia, urinary tract infections, gastrointestinal illnesses, and bloodstream infections—proved resistant to standard antibiotic treatments.
“This is the first time this issue was found with common illnesses at such a large scale,” the report states, noting that common medications are increasingly failing against bacteria that once readily responded to treatment.
The WHO has long identified antimicrobial resistance as one of the most urgent global health threats, but the UNICEF report highlights how children—particularly those in conflict zones and displacement camps—are bearing the heaviest burden.
“If this trend continues, deaths caused by AMR could rise to 70 percent by 2050,” the report warns, citing WHO projections. Countries with the highest rates of antibiotic-resistant infections include parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and the Eastern Mediterranean region.
The report identifies multiple factors driving the resistance crisis: the misuse and overuse of antibiotics in both humans and animals, poor access to diagnostic tools that would enable precise prescribing, and weak infection control measures in healthcare facilities.
Displacement creating public health emergency
Simultaneously, the report documents how record levels of child displacement have crippled healthcare systems and created conditions where infectious diseases thrive.
By the end of 2024, approximately 48.8 million children were displaced by conflict and violence—the highest number ever recorded—and UNICEF indicates that figure rose further throughout 2025.
“Migration and displacement harm children’s health in many ways,” the report states. “They interrupt immunization, limit access to medicine and clean water, and force children to live in overcrowded conditions.”
The consequences are visible in multiple regions. In the Gaza Strip, vaccination coverage among children under five has plummeted from more than 98 percent before the conflict to approximately 70 percent today, according to UNICEF data cited in the report. One in five young children in Gaza is now unvaccinated or has missed critical vaccine doses due to repeated displacement and the destruction of health facilities.
In West and Central Africa, approximately 80,000 displaced children face high risk from cholera outbreaks spreading across 12 countries, the report notes, citing a July 2025 UNICEF press release. The Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria have reported the most cases, with regional spread threatening neighboring countries.
The Sahel region presents another front in the crisis, with 2.9 million people displaced—half of them children. Attacks on communities have increased malnutrition rates and disease vulnerability while delaying treatment for infectious conditions, contributing to higher death rates.
“In 2025, conflicts have spanned multiple vaccine cycles, as opposed to causing just single missed doses,” the report emphasizes, warning that localized conflicts now risk expanding into cross-border public health crises.
Children’s unique vulnerabilities
The UNICEF brief underscores that children’s developing immune systems make them especially susceptible to infectious diseases. While vaccines typically provide critical protection, disruptions to routine immunization leave children defenseless against preventable illnesses.
The report notes that respiratory infections such as RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) and pneumonia pose particular dangers to young children because their smaller airways can become obstructed more quickly than in adults. Similarly, fever and dehydration can progress with dangerous speed in pediatric patients.
Pneumonia remains a leading killer of children globally. In Bangladesh, the disease accounts for 13 percent of under-five deaths, according to a separate UNICEF analysis released in late February. That analysis, conducted in partnership with Johns Hopkins University, projected that more than 100,000 Bangladeshi children could die from pneumonia over the next decade if current trends continue.
However, the modeling also found that scaling up pneumonia prevention and treatment services could avert approximately 48,000 of those deaths directly, while creating a “ripple effect” that would prevent an additional 92,000 child deaths from other major diseases including diarrhea and sepsis.
Regional impacts and case studies
The Gaza Strip features prominently in the UNICEF report as a case study in vaccination disruption. Before the current conflict, the territory had achieved vaccination coverage exceeding 98 percent—among the highest rates in the Middle East. Today, with health facilities destroyed and families constantly on the move, coverage has dropped to 70 percent, creating conditions for measles and other vaccine-preventable diseases to spread.
The report cites a November 2025 UNICEF press release announcing a catch-up immunization campaign launched in Gaza, though ongoing hostilities have complicated these efforts.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria, cholera outbreaks among displaced populations highlight the intersection of waterborne disease and inadequate sanitation. “Prevention and treatment become difficult to provide” in displacement camps where clean water is scarce and overcrowding facilitates transmission, the report notes.
The Sahel’s complex crisis involves armed conflict, mass displacement, food insecurity, and disease outbreaks in a self-reinforcing cycle. UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell visited the region in June 2025, warning that “insecurity and displacement continue to affect children” as malnutrition weakens immune systems and makes children more susceptible to infectious diseases.
Expert perspectives
Tomoo Hozumi, UNICEF representative in Bangladesh, emphasized that poverty magnifies children’s vulnerability to infectious diseases. “Children from the poorest households were half as likely to seek care and twice as likely to die before their fifth birthday as compared to children from the richest households,” Hozumi said in late February.
He called for coordinated action: “A multisectoral approach and coordinated plan is required in the areas of health, nutrition, water, sanitation, hygiene and air pollution. UNICEF, together with Save the Children and other partners, supports the government of Bangladesh in efforts to combat childhood pneumonia.”
Kevin Watkins, chief executive of Save the Children, said the true potential for saving lives is even greater than current models suggest. He noted that existing projections do not account for factors such as the availability of medical oxygen or efforts to reduce air pollution—a major risk factor for pneumonia.
“These results show what is possible,” Watkins said. “It would be morally indefensible to stand and allow millions of children continue to die for want of vaccines, affordable antibiotics and routine oxygen treatment.”
Background and context
UNICEF’s warning arrives against a backdrop of deteriorating global health indicators for children. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted routine immunization worldwide, and recovery has been uneven. Conflict-driven displacement has reached historic levels, and climate-related disasters are adding new pressures on health systems.
The antimicrobial resistance crisis has been building for decades. The WHO has repeatedly warned that overuse of antibiotics in human medicine and agriculture is accelerating resistance, and the pipeline for new antibiotics remains limited. The October 2025 WHO Global Antimicrobial Resistance and Use Surveillance System (GLASS) report documented the sharp rise in resistant infections that the UNICEF brief now cites.
Children in low- and middle-income countries face the highest risks. Poor access to diagnostic tools means antibiotics are often prescribed without confirming bacterial infection, contributing to resistance. When first-line antibiotics fail, second-line treatments are often unavailable, unaffordable, or too harsh for children’s bodies.
Wider implications
The dual crises of antimicrobial resistance and health system collapse threaten to reverse decades of progress in child survival. Since 1990, the world has cut under-five mortality by more than half, but gains are now at risk in the regions most affected by conflict and displacement.
The economic implications are also significant. Treating resistant infections requires longer hospital stays, more expensive medications, and more intensive care—costs that strain already underfunded health systems. For families already living in poverty, a child’s drug-resistant infection can push the household into destitution.
Cross-border spillover effects concern public health officials. The UNICEF report warns that “isolated conflicts have the potential to expand into cross-border public health crises” as displaced populations move across borders, carrying infectious diseases with them.
International cooperation on antimicrobial resistance has gained urgency. In September 2024, world leaders meeting at the UN General Assembly pledged to reduce global deaths from antimicrobial resistance by 10 percent by 2030, but implementation remains uneven.
Latest developments
Since the January 18 release of the UNICEF brief, several related developments have occurred. In late January, nine leading health organizations—including ISGlobal, Save the Children, UNICEF, Every Breath Counts, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, USAID, Unitaid, and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance—convened the Global Forum on Childhood Pneumonia in Barcelona, marking the first international conference dedicated to the disease.
On February 27, Our World in Data published updated figures showing that treatment rates for children with acute respiratory infections remain low in many countries, based on UNICEF and World Bank data. The indicator tracks the percentage of children under five with respiratory infections who are taken to appropriate healthcare providers.
In Bangladesh, UNICEF continues to work with the government and partners on childhood pneumonia interventions, emphasizing the need to reach the poorest households where children face the greatest risks.
UNICEF’s January 2026 update brief documents a child health landscape under mounting pressure from two directions. Antimicrobial resistance is rendering standard treatments ineffective against common childhood infections, while mass displacement is dismantling the healthcare infrastructure that once protected vulnerable populations.
The convergence of these crises, the report suggests, threatens to turn manageable health challenges into expansive regional emergencies. Children in conflict zones, displacement camps, and impoverished communities face the highest risks, but the spread of resistant infections and the cross-border movement of displaced populations mean no country is entirely insulated.
International health agencies, national governments, and humanitarian organizations face urgent calls to strengthen infection control, regulate antibiotic use, restore routine immunization, and reach displaced children with essential services. The alternatives, the UNICEF report warns, include continued erosion of child health gains and preventable deaths on a growing scale.
With inputs from
1 UNICEF: 2026 Update Brief: Combating the Rise of Infectious Diseases in Children
2 UNICEF Bangladesh: Efforts can save 1,40,000 children from pneumonia deaths
3 WHO: Global Antimicrobial Resistance and Use Surveillance System (GLASS) report
4 Our World in Data: Share of children with respiratory infection taken to healthcare provider
5 Gavi: Global Forum on Childhood Pneumonia convenes in Barcelona
6 Save the Children: Pneumonia remains leading killer of children
7 UN News: Displaced children face heightened disease risk, UNICEF warns
8 The Lancet: Child health in conflict zones
Global Public Health Systems: Policy, Pandemics & Welfare.
What Is Cushing’s Syndrome? A Rare Hormonal Disorder with Devastating Health Consequences and Global Public Health Systems: Policy, Pandemics & Welfare.
