UNICEF — UN agency advocating for children's rights, protection, and welfare in Ghana and globally, through campaigns on birth registration, child safety, nutrition, and health facility standards.
Verbatim sentences from the source article.
Joy Online
UNICEF has launched the first-of-its-kind Children’s Film Festival in Ghana, using film to spotlight children’s rights and give young people a stronger voice in telling their own stories. …
UNICEF Ghana launches first Children’s Film Festival to amplify children’s voicesJoy Online
… UNICEF noted that the age of sexual consent should take into primary consideration the likelihood of sexual abuse, the consequence of early sexual activity on the rights and development of the child and sexual exploitation or manipulation of children/adolescents with gifts and fa …
18-Years – A perfectly synchronous age of consent and marriageJoy Online
… The launch was held on Wednesday, September 23, at UNICEF House on the margins of the 81st United Nations General Assembly. …
Gender Minister calls for stronger financing, accountability to improve lives of Africa’s childrenDaily Guide
UNICEF Ghana Country Representative, Kuami Eugene, officials from the Birth and Death Registry, Chiefs and the Queen of Bepowase To mark Birth Registration Month, UNICEF Ghana Country Representative Andy Brooks, Afrobeats star Kuami Eugene and officials from the Births and Deaths …
UNICEF, Kuami Eugene Mark Birth Registration Month In BepowaseJoy Online
… The launch, held on September 23, 2026, at UNICEF House on the margins of the 81st United Nations General Assembly, focused on the rights, wellbeing and development of children across Africa, with particular attention to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and their impact on ch …
Gender Minister delivers Mahama’s address at launch of State of Africa’s Children ReportJoy Online
… UNICEF estimates that more than 370 million girls and women alive today experienced rape or sexual assault before turning 18, including 79 million in sub-Saharan Africa. …
What Is Wrong With Us: The world must be ashamed that childhood has become so dangerous for so many childrenJoy Online
… Ayensu-Danquah commended UNICEF for its technical and financial support towards the development of the plan and called on all relevant stakeholders to support its implementation. …
Ghana launches strategic plan to reduce heavy metals in foodJoy Online
… The Regional Health Director credited partners, including UNICEF, for supporting efforts to improve the capacity of health workers. …
Ashanti region records 25% drop in maternal mortality in first half of 2026Joy Online
UNICEF has called for a dedicated budget for child protection in Ghana’s 2027 budget, warning that fragmented allocations are leaving frontline services without adequate resources to protect vulnerable children. …
UNICEF calls for dedicated child protection allocation in 2027 budgetJoy Online
… Speaking on the theme “Beyond Policy: Financing Child Protection to Secure Every Child’s Future” at the Mensvic Hotel, on September 17, Anita Budu cited UNICEF research which showed that Ghana’s core child protection spending in 2024 was equivalent to approximately GH¢7 per child …
IJM urges Ghana government to increase and protect child protection fundingUNICEF has launched Ghana's first Children's Film Festival, selecting 10 young filmmakers from more than 300 submissions to develop short films centred on children's rights and experiences in Ghana. The initiative aims to give children a platform to tell their own stories and spark conversations about their rights and challenges.
30 September 2026 · Joy Online →
UNICEF has launched Ghana's first Children's Film Festival, selecting 10 young filmmakers from more than 300 submissions to develop short films centred on children's rights and experiences in Ghana. The initiative aims to give children a platform to tell their own stories and spark conversations about their rights and challenges.
30 September 2026 · Joy Online →
An analysis in Joy Online argues that Ghana's age of sexual consent—currently 16—should be raised to 18 to align with the age of marriage and reflect the realities of pregnancy, childbirth, and co-parenting. The piece contends that structural legal and cultural arrangements, rather than individual moral failings, drive many social problems.
25 September 2026 · Joy Online →
Ghana's Gender Minister Dr Agnes Naa Momo Lartey has called for stronger financing, reliable data, and greater accountability to translate commitments into tangible improvements in African children's lives, speaking on behalf of President John Mahama at the launch of the State of Africa's Children Report 2026 in New York. The inaugural report examines children's situations across Africa with particular focus on water, sanitation and hygiene and their impact on health, education, protection and development.
25 September 2026 · Joy Online →
UNICEF Ghana Country Representative Andy Brooks, Afrobeats star Kuami Eugene, and officials from the Births and Deaths Registry visited Bepowase, a 3,000-person community in Ayensuano District, to advocate for child rights and legal identity through birth registration. Ghana's birth registration rate declined to 90.8% in 2023 from 92.3% in 2022, with coverage falling to 73.4% by end of 2025.
25 September 2026 · Daily Guide →
Ghana's Gender Minister delivered President Mahama's keynote address at the launch of the State of Africa's Children Report 2026 at the UN General Assembly in New York on September 23, 2026, focusing on children's rights and access to water, sanitation and hygiene across Africa.
25 September 2026 · Joy Online →
UNICEF estimates more than 370 million girls and women alive today experienced rape or sexual assault before age 18, with 79 million in sub-Saharan Africa, yet despite pledges under the Sustainable Development Goals to end violence against children by 2030, societies continue to allow children to suffer sexual abuse, trafficking, forced labour, and child marriage.
22 September 2026 · Joy Online →
Ghana has launched a National Strategic Plan for Heavy Metals Reduction in Food (2026–2030) aimed at reducing exposure to lead, cadmium, mercury and arsenic, which can enter the food system through environmental contamination, agricultural practices, food processing and packaging. The plan seeks to strengthen food safety regulation, surveillance, laboratory capacity, industry compliance, research and public education, with Deputy Health Minister Prof. Dr Grace Ayensu-Danquah stressing the importance of coordination among food-safety institutions and noting that safer food would protect public health and improve the competitiveness of Ghanaian products.
18 September 2026 · Joy Online →
The Ashanti Region recorded a 25% drop in institutional maternal mortality in the first half of 2026, falling from 199.5 to 148.7 deaths per 100,000 live births. The improvement was attributed to targeted clinical interventions and expanded care at peripheral health facilities, though the rate remains above the national target of 125 per 100,000.
17 September 2026 · Joy Online →
UNICEF has called for dedicated child protection funding in Ghana's 2027 budget, arguing that fragmented allocations are leaving frontline services under-resourced. The agency notes that although government allocations have increased nominally, much funding goes to compensation rather than goods and services needed for child protection interventions.
17 September 2026 · Joy Online →
The Country Director of International Justice Mission has called on the Ghana government to prioritise financing for child protection as a strategic investment, noting that Ghana's core child protection spending in 2024 was approximately GH¢7 per child per year, while UNICEF estimates the annual economic cost of child abuse in Ghana at between US$223 million and US$347 million.
17 September 2026 · Joy Online →
The article argues that education systems should be judged by how effectively they prevent disadvantage from becoming destiny, and that transition from basic to secondary education is a critical point where many young people fall through institutional cracks. It notes UNESCO estimates 251 million children and young people remain out of school globally, and calls for African education systems to become more equitable and capable of ensuring vulnerable learners develop competencies for meaningful participation in society and the economy.
9 September 2026 · Joy Online →
Ghana's Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights has begun a four-day visit to the Eastern Region to strengthen Parliament's capacity to address children's issues, with a focus on child protection, migration and social protection. The programme, organised in partnership with CHRAJ, IPU, ACEPA, the UN Human Rights Office and UNICEF, includes capacity-building workshops, stakeholder engagements and community visits.
3 September 2026 · Joy Online →
Breastfeeding lowers a woman's risk of breast cancer but does not make her immune to the disease, according to Dr Beatrice Wiafe Addai, President of Breast Care International. She cautioned that breast changes during pregnancy and breastfeeding should not be dismissed without medical assessment, and warned that breast cancer remains the leading cancer affecting women in Ghana, with 5,026 new cases and 2,491 estimated deaths in 2022.
3 September 2026 · Joy Online →
About 20 million internet-using children across 21 countries were subjected to sexual exploitation or abuse on digital platforms in a single year, with most cases occurring on social media, according to a UNICEF report. More than one in five children aged 12 to 17 across Africa, Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe experienced at least one form of sexual abuse or exploitation online in the year before being surveyed.
3 September 2026 · Joy Online →
A 12-year-old girl was severely beaten by her stepmother with a metal key and knife for taking money and a key, an act that resulted in a four-month prison sentence. The incident reflects a broader pattern: 94 per cent of children aged 1 to 14 in Ghana experience some form of physical punishment or psychological aggression, and Ghana ranks first globally in this statistic.
26 August 2026 · Joy Online →
Thirteen-year-old Emma lives on the streets beneath Kwame Nkrumah Circle Interchange with his mother Adjoa, begging for food instead of attending school. Though he dreams of becoming a law enforcement officer, survival and poverty prevent him from pursuing education like other children his age.
25 August 2026 · Joy Online →
UNICEF says severe acute malnutrition admissions in Somalia jumped 32 percent in the first six months of 2026 as more than 200 health and nutrition facilities closed due to international aid cuts, with nearly 1.9 million children projected to be malnourished this year.
22 August 2026 · Joy Online →
A WHO/UNICEF assessment found that only 5% of Nigerian health care facilities met the basic standard for managing medical waste in 2025, with 76% having limited services and 20% having no waste-management service. The finding raises concerns over how used needles, infectious materials and other waste generated during medical care are handled.
21 August 2026 · Joy Online →
According to a WHO and UNICEF assessment, only 16% of Ghana's health facilities meet basic sanitation standards—which require improved and usable toilets, separate facilities for men and women with menstrual hygiene provision, and access for people with limited mobility. The gaps in sanitation across West Africa are particularly stark, with Guinea-Bissau at 7%, Burkina Faso at 11%, and Mali at 12%.
21 August 2026 · Joy Online →
Ghana's Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu said the government is prioritizing foundational learning in literacy and numeracy to improve education outcomes, noting that increased school access has not translated into improved learning. He emphasized that educational progress should be measured by whether children are acquiring expected competencies, not only by enrollment and infrastructure metrics.
21 August 2026 · Joy Online →
Ghana's NGOs should focus on building the capacity of local government institutions (MMDAs) rather than replacing them with project-based services that disappear when funding ends. This approach protects democratic accountability and ensures sustainable service delivery.
20 August 2026 · Joy Online →
Five-time Grammy award winner Angélique Kidjo from Benin has become the first African musician to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, honoring her four-decade career blending African sounds with funk, jazz and pop for global audiences.
19 August 2026 · Joy Online →
Ghana has launched Child Labour Free Zone initiatives and an Accelerated Action Plan Against Child Labour to combat child labour, particularly in agriculture and cocoa production. In 2022, approximately 21% of children aged 5–17 in Ghana were involved in child labour, with over 1.2 million engaged in hazardous work.
19 August 2026 · Joy Online →
The Ghana National Education Campaign Coalition has organized District Accountability Dialogues in two Ahafo Region districts to promote transparent and equitable education financing for girls and children with disabilities, bringing together local stakeholders to inspect fund allocation and advocate for stronger tracking of education money.
14 August 2026 · Joy Online →
The Ministry of Health is developing a comprehensive National AI Health Policy and Guidelines to provide a legal, ethical and operational framework for safe and equitable adoption of AI across Ghana's healthcare system. The policy aims to strengthen governance, data protection, digital infrastructure, workforce readiness and regulatory oversight to ensure AI supports improved healthcare delivery while safeguarding patient rights.
6 August 2026 · Joy Online →
A pastor shares how he supported his wife's recovery and breastfeeding by helping with nighttime baby care and expressed milk feeding. Experts note that while fathers cannot breastfeed directly, their role in household responsibilities and childcare enables mothers to breastfeed successfully and recover from childbirth.
4 August 2026 · Joy Online →
A new proposal would have Hamas hand over its weapons as Israel withdraws from 70% of Gaza it occupies, though the plan faces significant political and practical challenges. The arrangement comes amid catastrophic conditions for over 2 million Palestinian civilians and after tens of thousands of deaths during the war.
31 July 2026 · Joy Online →
About 100 health service providers have been trained to deliver adolescent-friendly maternal and child healthcare services following the expansion of the Safety Net Intervention to 44 additional health facilities in the Central Region. The intervention, a partnership between the Ghana Health Service and UNICEF, is now being implemented in 16 districts across 176 facilities in the region.
31 July 2026 · Joy Online →
Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu has reopened a national debate on whether Ghana should reconsider abolishing corporal punishment in schools, citing growing indiscipline in senior high schools. Mr. Iddrisu raised the issue at a national conference on school discipline in Sunyani, saying he, President John Mahama, and the Director-General of the Ghana Education Service are seeking answers to the question.
29 July 2026 · Joy Online →
Ghana Education Service has warned that gang-related violence and serious indiscipline previously seen mainly in tertiary institutions are increasingly affecting senior high schools, with incidents at institutions like Accra High School and West Africa SHS. The GES Director-General attributed the problem partly to weak implementation of positive discipline policies adopted after corporal punishment was abandoned in 2017, and cited social media and changing societal values as contributing factors.
29 July 2026 · Joy Online →