iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

These numbers exist because national statistical and health systems collect the data — systems now under funding pressure. Where measurement weakens, accountability tends to weaken with it. UN IGME, 2025 (Sharrow et al., BMJ 2026;393:e088684). #ChildSurvival

000

The 2025–2030 range is wide, and largely a matter of choices: 27.3 million under-5 deaths on current trends, 8.2 million of them avertable if off-track countries meet the SDG targets. All estimates are open at childmortality.org.

100

Newborn deaths stem from prematurity, complications at birth and maternal health. They need skilled care at delivery and functioning health systems — not only the vaccines and oral rehydration that drove earlier gains.

100

And the burden is concentrating in the newborn period. Deaths fell 65% for children aged 1–59 months since 1990, but only 53% for newborns — so newborns are now ~47% of under-5 deaths, up from ~40%. What remains is the harder problem.

100

The long-run trend is genuine progress: under-5 mortality down 60% since 1990. But the pace has slowed sharply — from a 3.9% annual decline in 2000–2015 to 1.5% in 2015–2024. The momentum of the MDG era hasn't carried into the SDG era.

100

Joao Pedro Azevedo @jpzvd.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

4.9 million children died before their fifth birthday in 2024 — nearly half of them (2.3 million) in the first 28 days of life. New UN IGME estimates, out this month in The BMJ. A short thread.

100

Half the world’s children face at least 3 climate hazards. New UNICEF Children’s Climate Risk Report 2026 maps the crisis with granular data.

121

Joao Pedro Azevedo @jpzvd.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

Ghana leads with 7. Iraq, back at the World Cup after 40 years, has its sixth in processing now. Goals get counted in 90 minutes. Children deserve to be counted too.

020

Joao Pedro Azevedo @jpzvd.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

The World Cup has 48 teams. Our scoreboard reads differently: 21 of those nations run MICS surveys — 61 since 1995 — producing the data that tells us how their children are really doing. #WorldCup2026 #MICS #DataForChildren

Joao Pedro Azevedo @jpzvd.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

How much of a child's schooling is set by birth? New global database (Muñoz & Jaque, World Development): in the average country, ≥56% of education inequality traces to family background. ECA most mobile (0.45), SAR least (0.64). Open access: doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2026.107415

130

Joao Pedro Azevedo @jpzvd.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

I'm honored to join the panel alongside Deon Filmer, Rachel Glennerster, Jonathan Stern, and waly wane, with a presentation by Maryam Akmal and Sergio Venegas Marin, moderated by Elizabeth Ninan, and opening remarks from Christian Bodewig.

000

Joao Pedro Azevedo @jpzvd.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

📊 From Evidence to Action: Using Data to Drive Education and Skills Outcomes 🗓️ Tuesday, June 23, 2026 🕙 10:00–11:30 AM ET 💻 Online via Webex — registration link in comments #FoundationalLearning #EducationData #LearningPoverty #SDG4 #DataForChildren

200

Joao Pedro Azevedo @jpzvd.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

🎈 New @UNICEFData report, out today for #InternationalDayOfPlay: ▪️ 80M+ children 2–4 (1 in 5) don't play with caregivers at home ▪️ 90M+ under-5s (1 in 7) have no playthings at home ▪️ Kids are half as likely to play with fathers as with mothers Play is not a luxury. 📖 data.unicef.org/resources/th...

data.unicef.org

The Power of Play - UNICEF DATA

100

measuring the health, nutrition, learning and protection of children, women and families in a way that is comparable across countries and over time.

010

The MICS is a technical assistance program, not a one-off effort. MICS are designed and run by national statistical offices, with UNICEF technical assistance, to a common global standard. The data belongs to the country; the standard is shared by the world.

100

from Afghanistan to Yemen, Iraq to Somalia, the State of Palestine to Ukraine. Today 35 of the 39 economies on the World Bank's fragility list take part, and 23 are fielding a survey in the current round.

100

Joao Pedro Azevedo @jpzvd.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

For three decades, UNICEF's Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) have produced nationally owned, internationally comparable data on children in the hardest places

100

This Monday I’m moderating “Safeguarding Data Systems for Food & Nutrition Security” at the World Bank Fragility Forum — with GNAFC, UNICEF & CRS. In fragile settings, the first thing to break is our ability to see the crisis. Register free, in person or online. #FragilityForum

000

Why it matters: the challenge in many countries is no longer access — it’s whether systems deliver learning, equity, and progression. That means connecting system inputs, data & measurement, and policy implementation. We’re looking for partners who can work across that interface.

000

Scope covers the full system: sector analysis, planning & financing; EMIS and data use; curriculum, school leadership, teaching & learning; digital learning; research & evaluation; MEL; learning assessment; equity & out-of-school children. Consortia and national institutions encouraged.

Global Long-Term Arrangement for Services (LTASs) for the provision of consultancy services to UNICEF in Education

📣 New UNICEF Call for EOI: a Global Long-Term Arrangement for consultancy services on education systems strengthening across multiple countries. It’s a global roster — rapid deployment across HQ, regional, and country offices, not a single assignment. 🔗 www.ungm.org/Public/Notic...

ungm.org

100

📊 UNICEF is hiring a Statistics & Monitoring Manager (P-4) in Dakar, leading data & analytics across 24 countries in West & Central Africa. 8+ yrs exp, Stata/R/Python, French + English required. 📅 Deadline: 10 May 2026 🔗 jobs.unicef.org/cw/en-us/job... Pls RT 🙏

jobs.unicef.org

Vacancies

000

Joao Pedro Azevedo @jpzvd.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

📢 UNICEF at #MeasureDev2026 🗓 April 29 | 🕒 3:35 PM ET | 💻 In person & online I’ll be speaking at the Measuring Development panel: “Transparency in the Age of AI.” My presentation “AI Reliability for Official Statistics: Benchmarking Large Language Models with the UNICEF Data Warehouse”

100

Registration link: forms.cloud.microsoft/e/jFueQHsZew

forms.cloud.microsoft

Microsoft Forms

000

Joao Pedro Azevedo @jpzvd.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

Looking forward to this discussion at #CPD59 👇 Aligning Policy & Data Production Building Sustainable Demographic & Health Statistics With colleagues from UNICEF, UNESCO, WHO, UN DESA, and country leaders (PHL, NGA, MEX) 📅 Apr 14 | 8:15–9:45 AM ET 📍 Hybrid | UNHQ + Zoom #OfficialStatistics

100

Making official statistics more accessible, reproducible, and interoperable is an important step toward strengthening evidence for policies that improve outcomes for children. • Use of SDMX international statistical standards • Consistent interfaces across R, Python, and Stata

The unicefData package helps bridge the gap between official statistics and modern data science workflows by enabling: • Access to 700+ indicators across countries and years • Integration with reproducible research pipelines

Why this matters Reliable evidence depends not only on good data, but also on how easily that data can be accessed, reproduced, and reused.

Install install.packages("unicefData") Example library(unicefData) df <- unicefData( indicator = "CME_MRY0T4", countries = c("BRA","USA","IND"), year = "2015:2023" )

Researchers, policymakers, and analysts can now retrieve 700+ internationally comparable indicators on children and women directly from R — enabling reproducible analytics, transparent workflows, and faster evidence generation.

Today I’m pleased to share that the unicefData R package is now available on CRAN, providing direct programmatic access to the UNICEF Data Warehouse. 📦 CRAN cran.r-project.org/package=unicef… #OpenData #OfficialStatistics #RStats #DataForChildren #ReproducibleResearch

189

📊 Too much global development data still lives in spreadsheets. But modern analysis requires data acquisition as code. 📦 CRAN cran.r-project.org/package=unicef… #OpenData #OfficialStatistics #RStats #DataForChildren #ReproducibleResearch

2113

But the operating environment is changing, with fiscal pressures, survey fatigue, technological transformation, higher expectations for timeliness and disaggregation, and the expanding role of administrative and AI-enabled systems.

000

For over 30 years and across 400+ national surveys, the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) programme has supported countries in generating internationally comparable data on children and their families — contributing to nearly half of all household survey–based SDG indicators.

100

At the 57th UN Statistical Commission in New York, we are convening a side event focused squarely on how nationally led household survey systems must evolve in the final stretch of the SDGs — and beyond 2030.

100