COVID-19

This list of UN and partner responses to the COVID-19 pandemic has been compiled by UNESCO in association with the FRESH network. It will be regularly updated as new resources are produced. If you have COVID-19 health education response resources to share with the global school health and nutrition network please contact us.

Information from the United Nations (UN) system

Information from UN offices, field missions, agencies, funds and programmes, in their spheres of expertise, as it becomes available. Below are further details on those agencies responding to health and education issues.

UNESCO: COVID-19 Educational Disruption and Response
Latest updates on the impact of COVID-19 on education, as well as UNESCO’s support to countries in their efforts to mitigate the immediate impact of school closures and facilitate the continuity of education for all. UNESCO has also launched the Global Education Coalition to facilitate inclusive learning opportunities for children and youth during this period of sudden and unprecedented educational disruption.

UNICEF: Coronavirus (COVID-19). What you need to know about the virus to protect you and your family
Latest news and fact based information on COVID-19, including advice for parents, teens, teachers and employees. The UNICEF Office of Research – Innocenti has compiled a library of research on children and COVID-19.

WFP: COVID-19 Pandemic
WFP’s response to COVID-19, including a continuously updated map showing the impact on the provision of school meals, and a compilation of measures taken by countries to address the loss of school meals.

WHO: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) Pandemic
Latest updates on COVID-19 including daily press releases, technical guidance, advice for the public and research updates. The Country & technical guidance section includes resources for governments responding to the pandemic, organized by topic. The page on Advice for the public includes information on healthy parenting. A library of COVID-19 visual tools includes communication materials on transmission, precaution measures, protecting high-risk groups and mental health.

FAO: Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19)
FAO’s action in response to the outbreak and key messages, including on food security and nutrition priorities, as well as policy responses on school feeding.

UN Women: Gender equality in COVID-19 response
Up-to-date information and analysis on how and why gender matters in the COVID-19 response and highlights of the impact of the pandemic on violence against women and girls.

UNAIDS: COVID-19 and HIV
A collection of resources and stories on what people living with HIV need to know about HIV and COVID-19, showing how UNAIDS is working with governments and community partners to find local solutions.

UNFPA: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) Pandemic
News, technical briefs and UNFPA global response plan to COVID-19 including advice on sexual and reproductive health and rights, gender equality and addressing gender-based violence.

UNHCR: Coronavirus outbreak
A live blog on refugees in the COVID-19 crisis and how UNHCR is working to help and support refugees and displaced people. The site also houses a collection of resources, considerations and guidance to help ensure everyone can continue learning amid the coronavirus situation.

UNODC: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) - UNODC updates
Resources and guidance for people who use drugs and with drug use disorders, who are in prison and who have HIV/Hepatitis C.

The World Bank Group: COVID-19 (coronavirus)
Data, resources and news on accelerating the international response country support.

Responses from other international partners

Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE): Coronavirus (COVID-19) Resources
A collection of resources to support the provision of education in places affected by COVID-19, with particular focus on distance learning, alternative education, and psychosocial support.

Global Partnership for Education (GPE): GPE and the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic
GPE  is supporting partner countries to  deal with the disruptions to education systems leaving millions of children out of school.

Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children: Protecting Children During the COVID-19 Outbreak
Resources for children, adults, and responders, along with a social media kit and a resource pack with six tips in multiple languages to help parents interact constructively with their children during this time of confinement.

Maps and Dashboards

Global monitoring of school closures caused by COVID-19 (UNESCO)
Global Monitoring of School Meals during COVID-19 School Closures  (WFP)
Knowledge map: WASH in schools and Coronavirus (WASH in Schools Network)
Global overview of child protection risks (Child Protection Global Protection Cluster)

Key Resources

Policy Brief: Education during COVID-19 and beyond (United Nations)
Policy recommendations for governments and stakeholders to mitigate the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and prevent a learning crisis from becoming a generational catastrophe.

Framework for reopening schools (UNESCO, UNICEF, World Bank, WFP)
Across countries leaders are grappling with difficult and uncertain trade-offs as they consider easing lockdowns. This framework serves to inform the decision-making process on when to reopen schools, support national preparations and guide the implementation process, as part of the overall public health and education planning processes. Contextualization and continuous adaptation are necessary in order to respond to local conditions and meet each child’s learning, health and safety needs.

Safe back to school: a practitioner’s guide (Global Education Cluster)
This guide helps programme teams plan an integrated, participatory process for safe school reopening.

Considerations for school-related public health measures in the context of COVID-19 (UNESCO, UNICEF, WHO)
This Annex to the WHO guidance on considerations for implementing and adjusting public health and social measures in the context of COVID-19 is intended to help policy makers and educators with making decisions on running schools as safely as possible during the COVID-19 pandemic. At the forefront of all considerations and decisions should be the continuity of education for children for their overall well-being, health and safety.

Checklist to support schools re-opening and preparation for COVID-19 resurgences or similar public health crises (WHO)
The purpose of this checklist is to enhance compliance and adherence with the public health measures outlined in the recently-updated Considerations for school-related public health measures in the context of COVID-19, particularly taking into consideration children under the age of 18 years in educational settings and schools with limited resources.

Health and nutrition during home learning (UNESCO)
Evidence tells us that a range of health and protection risks arise from a global pandemic, school closures and attempted distancing measures. Issues vary across settings, reflecting the nature of the pandemic, other crisis situations present, resourcing, extent of enforced isolation measures, and family or household structure. While this is a crisis situation, it can also be seen as a window for providing critical health education, and promoting the health and wellbeing of families and learners now and in the future. 

The importance of investing in the wellbeing of children to avert the learning crisis (UNESCO, WFP, UNICEF, WHO)
The COVID-19 pandemic has created the largest disruption of education systems in history, affecting nearly 1.6 billion school-age children in more than 190 countries. To avert this crisis, we need to reimagine how we deliver good quality and inclusive education to the world children. This calls for urgent investments in school health and nutrition programmes and create the conditions for children to lead healthy lives. This also includes health and nutrition literacy offered through the curriculum and through counselling in the school health services which provides young people with knowledge, skills, values, culture and behaviours they need to lead healthy, empowered lives.

The hidden impact of Covid-19 on children: A research series (Save the Children)
The global study reveals the hidden impacts of pandemic response measures which are impacting children’s health, nutrition, education, learning, protection, wellbeing, family finances and poverty. For the most marginalised and deprived children, those impacts have the potential to be life-altering and potentially devastating.

Mitigating the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on food and nutrition of schoolchildren (WFP, FAO, UNICEF)
This joint note is aimed at providing preliminary guidance to national and local authorities, school administrators and staff and implementing partners on how to take short-term measures to support, transform or adapt school feeding programmes in their efforts to safeguard the food security and nutritional status of school-aged children during the COVID-19 pandemic.

My Hero is You: How Kids can fight COVID-19 (IASC MHPSS RG) 
A book written for children around the world affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The project was developed by the Inter-Agency Standing Committee Reference Group on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings, supported by global, regional and country based experts from Member Agencies of the IASC MHPSS RG, in addition to parents, caregivers, teachers and children in 104 countries.

Policy brief: The impact of COVID-19 on children (United Nations)
Children are not the face of this pandemic. But they risk being among its biggest victims. This policy brief provides an analysis of the impact of COVID-19 on children. It identifies also a series of immediate and sustained actions for the attention of governments and policymakers.

Selected webinars

UNESCO Webinars on COVID-19 education response
These webinars provide a venue for stakeholders working in education to share practices, ideas and resources about country responses to school closures and other challenges stemming from the global health crisis.

Inter-Agency Responses and Guidance on COVID-19 for Schools
This webinar presents technical guidance and tools to support schools in addressing the competing priorities associated with a pandemic response to ensure the well-being and safety of their population. 

Visit the resource library for our full collection of resources on COVID-19