A single injection in the first 24 hours prevents a lifetime of disease
On World Children's Day, the World Health Organization reminded a watching world that millions of children are still dying from diseases medicine already knows how to prevent. From HIV to tuberculosis to hepatitis B, the distance between what is possible and what is practiced remains a moral failure as much as a logistical one. The organization points not only to vaccines and treatments, but to justice, youth agency, and the political will to close a gap that should not exist.
- 1.4 million children are living with HIV and 170,000 died from tuberculosis in a single year — not from incurable conditions, but from ones modern medicine can stop.
- Only 45% of newborns receive the hepatitis B vaccine within their first 24 hours of life, a narrow window that, once missed, leaves children exposed to a chronic, preventable infection.
- Children in poverty, conflict zones, and marginalized communities face compounding barriers — late diagnoses, delayed treatment, and prevention services that never reach them.
- WHO's Triple Elimination Initiative is translating urgency into action, with the Maldives becoming the first nation validated for eliminating mother-to-child transmission of HIV, syphilis, and hepatitis B.
- More than 90,000 young people have been mobilized through WHO's youth initiatives, placing adolescents not just as beneficiaries of health systems, but as architects of them.
On World Children's Day, the World Health Organization issued a pointed call: children are still dying from diseases we already know how to prevent. HIV, tuberculosis, hepatitis B, and sexually transmitted infections continue to claim young lives each year — not because cures are out of reach, but because the tools we have are not being used equitably or urgently enough.
The scale of the problem is difficult to absorb. In 2024, 1.4 million children under fourteen were living with HIV, and tuberculosis killed more than 170,000 children — most of them under five. Hepatitis B, affecting 254 million people globally, reaches children primarily through transmission during birth, yet fewer than half of all newborns receive the protective vaccine within their critical first day of life. For adolescents, sexually transmitted infections remain a largely invisible crisis, their true burden obscured by gaps in data and compounded by poverty and social exclusion.
Dr. Tereza Kasaeva, who leads WHO's work across these disease areas, framed the challenge as one of justice rather than technology. The knowledge exists. What is missing is the commitment to act on it — to screen pregnant women, treat those who test positive, and vaccinate newborns before the window closes.
WHO's Triple Elimination Initiative is already showing what is possible. The Maldives became the first country validated for eliminating mother-to-child transmission of HIV, syphilis, and hepatitis B, with nations across every region now working toward the same milestone. For tuberculosis, a new WHO roadmap outlines ten concrete actions for timely diagnosis and treatment, supported by training resources for frontline health workers.
Perhaps most significantly, WHO is centering young people not merely as patients but as leaders. The 1+1 Youth Initiative has engaged more than 90,000 young people in the tuberculosis response, while the Global Alliance to End AIDS in Children by 2030 places adolescents at the heart of advocacy — helping dismantle the stigma that keeps peers away from testing and care. The message to governments on this Children's Day was unambiguous: the diseases are preventable, the tools exist, and what remains is the will to use them.
On World Children's Day, the World Health Organization issued an urgent call for action against diseases that should no longer be killing children. The diseases in question—HIV, tuberculosis, hepatitis B, and sexually transmitted infections—are preventable. Yet millions of young people continue to fall ill and die from them each year, their futures cut short by conditions that modern medicine knows how to stop.
The numbers are stark. In 2024 alone, roughly 1.4 million children between birth and age fourteen were living with HIV, with another 120,000 newly infected that same year. Tuberculosis struck around 1.2 million children and young adolescents in that age group, killing more than 170,000 of them—the majority under five years old. Hepatitis B, a chronic infection affecting 254 million people globally, touches about 12 percent of those cases in children, primarily through transmission from mother to child during pregnancy or birth. Sexually transmitted infections remain a largely invisible crisis among adolescents, their true scope obscured by incomplete data, yet they follow the same pathways as HIV: poverty, weak social structures, and limited access to information and care.
The gap between what we know how to do and what we actually do is perhaps most visible in hepatitis B vaccination. While the vaccine has driven infection rates in children under five below one percent in many places, only 45 percent of newborns worldwide receive the critical first dose within their first day of life. The window is narrow; the opportunity, once missed, becomes much harder to recapture. For children already sick—those living with infectious disease while also facing malnutrition, poverty, conflict, or social exclusion—the barriers multiply. They wait too long for diagnosis. Treatment, when available, comes late. Prevention services remain out of reach.
Dr. Tereza Kasaeva, who leads the WHO's work on HIV, tuberculosis, hepatitis, and sexually transmitted infections, framed the challenge not as a technical problem but as a question of justice. Every child deserves a healthy beginning, she said. Ending these diseases means more than preventing death; it means securing futures where children can actually flourish.
The WHO is not simply naming the problem. It has begun moving countries toward concrete elimination targets. The Triple Elimination Initiative guides nations to eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV, syphilis, and hepatitis B through proven steps: screening all pregnant women, treating those who test positive, and vaccinating newborns immediately after birth. The Maldives became the first country validated by WHO for achieving this triple elimination in 2025, with others across every region now pursuing the same milestone. For tuberculosis, WHO released a roadmap with ten specific actions to ensure children receive timely diagnosis and treatment, backed by training modules for health workers available through the WHO Academy.
Central to these efforts is youth leadership. The WHO's 1+1 Youth Initiative has mobilized more than 90,000 young people to accelerate the tuberculosis response. The Global Alliance to End AIDS in Children by 2030, co-led by WHO, UNICEF, and UNAIDS, places adolescents and young people at the center as advocates and champions, helping to dismantle the stigma and social barriers that keep peers away from testing and treatment in their own communities.
On this Children's Day, the WHO's message to governments, communities, and partners was direct: place children and adolescents at the heart of national health planning. Listen to young people. Let them shape the services meant to protect them. The diseases are preventable. The tools exist. What remains is the will to use them.
Notable Quotes
Ending TB, HIV, hepatitis and STIs in children and adolescents is a matter of justice. Every child and young person deserves a healthy start in life.— Dr. Tereza Kasaeva, WHO Director for HIV, TB, Hepatitis & STIs
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does the WHO frame this as a justice issue rather than just a public health problem?
Because it is one. A child in a wealthy country with access to antenatal care and vaccines has almost no chance of contracting HIV or hepatitis B from their mother. A child born into poverty or conflict does. That's not biology—that's a choice we're making about who gets protected.
The hepatitis B number stuck with me—only 45 percent of newborns getting the birth dose. That seems like something we'd have solved by now.
You'd think so. But the birth dose has to happen within hours, often before a mother and newborn leave the hospital or clinic. In places with weak supply chains, staff shortages, or no hospital births at all, that window closes. It's not a vaccine problem; it's an access problem.
What's the significance of the Maldives being first for triple elimination?
It's proof of concept. It shows that a country can actually eliminate mother-to-child transmission of three diseases simultaneously if it commits to the right interventions: screening, treatment, vaccination. Now other countries know it's possible, not theoretical.
The youth leadership angle—is that just symbolic, or does it actually change outcomes?
It changes outcomes. Young people know their peers' real barriers: shame, misinformation, fear of judgment. When a teenager advocates for testing in their own community, they reach people a health worker never could. Ninety thousand young people mobilized for TB alone—that's not window dressing.
What happens to a child who doesn't get that hepatitis B birth dose?
They carry the virus for life. Most develop chronic infection. Without treatment, some will develop liver cirrhosis or liver cancer by adulthood. A single injection in the first 24 hours of life prevents all of that. The cruelty is in how preventable it is.