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[Review] Interventions to prevent, reduce, and respond to violence against children and adolescents: a systematic review of systematic reviews to update the INSPIRE Framework

Each year, one billion children globally experience violence, which carries lifelong detrimental effects. In 2016, WHO and partners launched the INSPIRE Framework: seven strategies to end violence against children. A decade after INSPIRE's development, this systematic review updates its evidence base and assesses which interventions could be prioritised for implementation. This systematic review of systematic reviews searched 152 information sources from Jan 1, 2010, to May 15, 2023, to identify systematic reviews evaluating the effectiveness of policies or interventions in addressing violence against children.

[Articles] Emotional distress in adolescents in 2018 and 2022: a comparison of cross-sectional national probabilistic samples from six countries

Emotional distress among adolescents in most participating countries was higher in 2022 than in 2018, with disproportionate increases in the number of those reporting high degrees of distress. This pattern suggests a widening of vulnerabilities and highlights an urgent need for scalable and context-sensitive responses, such as strengthening school-based supports, integrating mental health into primary care, and expanding digital and community-based interventions.

[Articles] Quantifying the fatal and non-fatal burden of disease associated with child growth failure, 2000–2023: a systematic analysis from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2023

CGF remains a leading factor associated with death and disability in children younger than 5 years, despite global attention and focused interventions to reduce the prevalence of associated CGF indicators. Our findings underscore the need for policies, strategies, and interventions that focus on all indicators of CGF to reduce its associated health burden.

[Corrections] Correction to Lancet Child Adolesc Health 2025; 9: 837–47

Sampri A, Shi W, Bolton T, et al. Vascular and inflammatory diseases after COVID-19 infection and vaccination in children and young people in England: a retrospective, population-based cohort study using linked electronic health records. Lancet Child Adolesc Health 2025; 9: 837–47—In this Article, the fourth sentence of the final paragraph in the Results section should read “AERs were higher in the first versus second period of the COVID-19 pandemic …”. This correction has been made to the online version as of Nov 6, 2025

[Corrections] Correction to Lancet Child Adolesc Health 2025; 9: 827–36

Ojha S, Mitchell EJ, Johnson MJ, et al. Full exclusively enteral fluids from day 1 versus gradual feeding in preterm infants (FEED1): an open-label, parallel-group, multicentre, randomised, superiority trial. Lancet Child Adolesc Health 2025; 9: 827–36—For this Article, the FEED1 collaborator list in the appendix has been updated and the corresponding page numbers in the text have been corrected. The title has also been corrected. These corrections have been made to the online version as of Dec 2, 2025.

[Reflections] A spotlight on Streetlights Uganda

The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health is proud to partner with Streetlights Uganda for the journal's cover art in 2026. Over the coming year, each issue will showcase art by a former street-connected young person. As apprentices of Streetlight Uganda's Mwalimu Mentorship Program [Mwalimu is Swahili for tutor], 12 children aged 7–20 years use art to express their personal reflections on one of two themes: “Nature as a refuge” and “Healing spaces”.

[Reflections] Asking the big questions about health inequalities

“Think about that for a second—in one of the richest countries on Earth, the most common thing that parents are asking for is a safe bed for their baby”, explained paediatrician Dr Guddi Singh during the first episode of Three Ages of Child, her three-part series broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in the UK. Exploring children's early years, school years, and adolescence, her series examined the underlying causes of the childhood illnesses she sees in her clinic. Singh began in Hartlepool, the town in northeast England where she grew up, with a visit to a Baby Bank, which not only provides families with essential items—such as the clothes, nappies, and beds requested by parents—but also a space for conversations to help tackle loneliness.

[Correspondence] The case for action in paediatric neuromodulation – Author's reply

I appreciate the thoughtful engagement of Karim Mithani and George M Ibrahim with my Comment1 and the substantial work that has gone into their registries.2 Their response, however, addresses a position that I did not take. My Comment stated explicitly that paediatric neuromodulation “will not stop; nor should it”, and that “doing nothing can be the greater harm”.1 We are not at odds over whether to treat. The question is whether our frameworks for consent, follow-up, and outcome measurement are adequate to the task we have set ourselves.

[Correspondence] The case for action in paediatric neuromodulation

We read with interest the Comment by Ammar Kheder1 on redefining an ethical framework for paediatric neuromodulation. The call for continuous consent, rigorous oversight, and humility is timely and important. However, an emphasis on anecdotal cautionary narratives risks conveying that children develop despite neuromodulation, rather than recognising that, in many cases, neuromodulation enables development by reducing disease burden and restoring participation in daily activities. Here, we offer a complementary perspective on the risks and opportunities of paediatric neuromodulation for neurodevelopment.

[Comment] Surgical and endoscopic management of paediatric pulmonary tuberculosis: a case for decompression

Lymphobronchial tuberculosis is the most common manifestation of intrathoracic tuberculosis disease in children, often causing airway compression and downstream parenchymal pathology1 and requiring timely intervention to prevent progression to irreversible lung destruction. Airway compression can be severe in young infants, necessitating urgent and life-saving intervention.2 Although pharmacological therapy is the cornerstone of airway compression management, surgical and bronchoscopy procedures can be life-saving for patients with severe disease or complications.

[Comment] Growing up modulated: paediatric neuromodulation needs a new ethical framework

A 9-year-old girl walked slowly down the clinic hallway. 10 months earlier, her days had been dominated by seizures—sudden drops, blank stares, and tonic spasms that cut her sentences in half. School was impossible, and her parents lived in constant vigilance. After implantation of a thalamic neuromodulation device, seizure frequency decreased by half. She was back at school part-time, making friends again, and her parents were radiant. Yet as I typed “excellent clinical improvement” into her chart, a quieter question pressed in about what we had just set in motion in her developing brain.

[Comment] A crucial juncture for evidence-based action to end violence against children

Violence against children in its many forms is widespread, undercounted, and contributes to cycles of violence that amplify adverse outcomes across generations.1–3 The persistence of violence against children, in all its manifestations, represents a failure of the international community to protect children and ensure a prosperous future for all. To catalyse investment in evidence-based approaches to address violence against children, the INSPIRE Framework was launched in 2016 and was framed around seven key intervention strategies.

[Comment] Childhood hypertension: a growing global concern in need of harmonised solutions

Globally, it is recognised that cardiovascular risk begins early in life, yet the epidemiology of childhood hypertension remains fragmented and contested. In The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, Jiali Zhou and colleagues1 present an updated meta-analysis of the previous publication2 in 2019. In contrast to the previous meta-analysis, the authors provide estimates of hypertension, integrating both repeated in-office blood pressure measurements and combined in-office and out-of-office assessments, providing additional estimates of sustained, white-coat, and masked hypertension.

[Editorial] Ultra-processed food: from first tastes to lifelong habits

Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) are everywhere. Our supermarket aisles, billboards, and offline and online media are filled with brightly coloured packages of sweet and savoury snacks, baked goods, ready meals, and sugar-sweetened beverages. Given their ubiquity and cheap price, it's unsurprising that the share of UPFs in diets has increased worldwide in the past few decades. According to UNICEF's 2025 Child Nutrition Report, 60% of adolescents globally and more than 50% of children aged 6–23 months in 13 of 20 low-income and middle-income countries surveyed consumed a sweet beverage or food in the previous day.

[Series] Navigating the challenges in and identifying the priorities for childhood cancer survivorship in Asia

Survival after childhood cancer has markedly improved over the past decades in Asia, leading to a growing number of survivors in the region. However, long-term care for these individuals remains a substantial challenge in Asia due to the insufficient availability of comprehensive childhood cancer survivorship programmes in the region. Many countries and regions of Asia are only beginning to acknowledge the significance of post-treatment care. In this third paper in a Series on childhood cancer control in Asia, we provide an overview of the challenges, disparities, and enablers in the provision of long-term follow-up care in Asia.