For every child, a fair chance: The promise of equity

This report is based on an in-depth paper that was the centrepiece of discussions at the UNICEF Executive Board’s Special Session on Equity held in New York, in June 2015.
The principle of equity guides UNICEF’s work with a sharp focus on the world’s most vulnerable children: those from the poorest households, girls, children with disabilities, migrant and refugee children, those living in remote areas, and children from ethnic or religious groups facing discrimination. The following pages build on evidence and experience from this work to make two main arguments for closing persistent gaps in equity. It examines seven sectors that are critical to progress for children: health; HIV and AIDS; water, sanitation and hygiene; nutrition; education; child protection; and social inclusion. In each sector, there are stark contrasts between global advances on one hand and the urgent, unmet needs of the world’s most vulnerable children on the other.