Four Indian states have vaccinated every 14-year-old girl they identified against HPV, the virus behind almost all cervical cancer. India’s free, single-dose campaign has passed eight million vaccinations since February.
Young Women
Evidence-based reporting, analysis and perspectives on women’s health worldwide. Updated as stories develop.
UN creates an international day to end child marriage
The first International Day for the Elimination of Child, Early and Forced Marriage falls on 27 November 2026. Sierra Leone led the UN resolution creating it, and countries from Sierra Leone to Colombia have already banned marriage under 18.
650 million women alive today were married as children, UNICEF says
UNICEF estimates that education, legal reform and social protection have averted 68 million child marriages over the past 25 years. Yet about 650 million women and girls alive today were married in childhood, and the agency marked the International Day of the Girl by calling for faster progress.
Social media and teenage girls’ mental health: why the early teens carry the most risk
New studies from Canada and Australia link more time on social media to higher rates of depression in teenagers, with the clearest signals in girls aged 12 and 13. Both countries are writing age limits into law, and health bodies set out steps families and schools can take now.
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