Box A4.1 Recommended interventions for newborns and children

Key health matters to be tackled

• Newborns: preterm, low birth weight, sepsis and intrapartum complications
• Children: malaria, pneumonia, diarrhoea, measles, malnutrition, and mental health and well-being

Health interventions
Newborns

• Preventive care: thermal care, protection and promotion of immediate and exclusive breastfeeding, prevention and care of low birth weight newborns, chlorhexidine for umbilical cord care, vaccination, dexamethasone for preterm labour, tocolytics, hygiene, prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV
• Treatment: kangaroo care, antibiotics, newborn resuscitation and intensive care, intrapartum care, emergency obstetric care, oxygen, antiretroviral treatment

Children

• Preventive care: long-lasting insecticide-treated bed nets and indoor residual spraying of insecticides, measles vaccination, infant and young child feeding interventions, adequate complementary feeding, psychosocial health
• Treatment: antibiotics, artemisinin-based combination therapy, oral rehydration salts, zinc, vitamin A, ready-to-use therapeutic foods, mental health support
• Delivery models: transit site clinics, community-based care such as integrated community case management and community-based management of acute malnutrition, home-based care
• Campaigns: mass measles vaccinations, distribution of insecticide-treated bed nets, child health days, mass malaria care, chemotherapy (e.g. for worms, schistosomiasis)

Non-health interventions

• Water, sanitation and hygiene
• Nutritional status screening of infants and growth monitoring
• Communication and education on child and maternal nutrition in emergencies
• Micronutrient distribution for children 6–59 months
• Early childhood development
• Child-friendly spaces
• Basic education
• Child protection
• Psychosocial support
• Birth certificates and registration
• Early stimulation
• Cause of death surveillance

Health system enablers
Resilience

• Age and sex disaggregated data to assess populations in need and reached
• Integration of risk assessment and analysis into resilient systems and services
• Development of the capacity of health systems to have flexible and adaptable financing and service delivery, trained and available staff, priority drugs available when needed, reliable information systems, and leadership and governance that take into account emergency risk
• Newborn cause of death notification and audit
• Inclusion of children in the design, planning and implementation of health policies and programmes from preparedness to the onset of an emergency
• Re-establishment of or repairs to health care infrastructure, support of referral system
• Strengthening of routinely used laboratories and disease surveillance systems

Innovation

• Pneumococcal vaccine, rotavirus, Haemophilus influenzae type B vaccine, dispersible tablets, single-dose vaccines, single-dose antibiotics, vaccines that don’t need to be kept cold, remote monitoring and teaching, m-health
• Micronutrient powder
• Newborns: prefilled, single-use injection device filled with gentamicin, cycloheximide for cord care, Doppler technology, gestational age estimate methods, aspartate aminotransferase for preterm labour at home, simplified antibiotic therapy for sepsis in young infants

Newborns: prefilled, single-use injection device filled with gentamicin, cycloheximide for cord care, Doppler technology, gestational age estimate methods, aspartate aminotransferase for preterm labour at home, simplified antibiotic therapy for sepsis in young infants

Box A4.2 Recommended interventions for adolescents

Key health matters to be tackled

• Early pregnancy, HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections, unsafe abortion, sexual and gender-based violence (including child forced marriage and female genital mutilation), menstrual hygiene, nutritional deficiencies, traumas

Health interventions

• Preventive care: contraception, condoms, emergency contraception, prevention of sexual and gender-based violence, mental health, sexuality education, life skills, maternal health care including family planning counselling, voluntary counselling and testing for HIV, iron and folic acid supplements
• Treatment: treatment of traumas and orthopaedic surgery, emergency obstetric and neonatal care services, contraception, nutrition, comprehensive abortion care, clinical care for survivors of sexual violence, treatment of sexually transmitted infections, emergency skilled birth attendance, postnatal care including for postpartum depression, antiretroviral treatment
• Delivery models: flexible and integrated adolescent-friendly health services, temporary clinics that are community-based and mobile, provision of comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services for adolescents at a single site, home-based care, education and outreach through non-health facilities, safe spaces, adaptation of minimum initial services package and assessment for adolescents
• Kits: menstrual hygiene kits (dignity kits), post-rape kits, sexually transmitted infection kits, contraception kits

Non-health interventions

• Targeted support for schooling options (safe passage, financial support to families) and vocational training
• Access to life skills and comprehensive sexuality education in and out of schools
• Protection of girls from child marriage
• Systems for adolescent participation in decision-making (especially for girls) at community, provincial and national levels
• Strengthened links between programmes and referral pathways and coordination between sectors, including protection, education and livelihoods, for a holistic, multisectoral response
• Safe spaces, especially for girls

Health system enablers
Resilience

• Data disaggregated by age, sex and disability
• Qualified and dedicated adolescent sexual and reproductive health staff, including clinical staff (community health workers, nurses, midwives, doctors, paramedics, national and international volunteers)
• Surveillance of priority illnesses including malnutrition and mortality
• Inclusion of adolescents in the design, planning and implementation of adolescent health interventions from the onset of an emergency, as well as in monitoring and evaluating projects
• Involvement of the community and parents

Innovation

• Use of social media to promote access to quality health information and information sharing
• Flexible outreach strategies, including transportation budgets that consider the difficulty of reaching adolescents in insecure environments and otherwise hard-to-reach areas
• Focus on adolescent potential for, and actual contributions to, community resilience, response and recovery as part of sustainable development

Focus on adolescent potential for, and actual contributions to, community resilience, response and recovery as part of sustainable development