On this World Children’s Day, the Ifakara Health Institute reaffirms its commitment to safeguarding children’s health through research, innovation, and community programs that prevent disease, promote nutrition, and ensure access to quality healthcare for all children.

Children’s lives are often shaped by choices they did not make. But all children have rights — to safety, to learning, and to have their voices heard. At Ifakara, we work to uphold these rights through strong, evidence-based research and programs that create real, measurable impact in children’s lives.

The theme for 2025

UNICEF has drafted this slogan for the day: Listen to children, stand up for the rights of every child, every day – derived from this year’s theme: “My Day, My Rights.”

A call from the official UNICEF website - 

“From the moment the sun rises, children wake up to a world shaped by choices they didn't make. But every child, everywhere, also wakes with rights. Including the right to be protected, to learn, and to have their voice heard. It’s time to listen to children. To understand what their lives are like and how their rights are present, missing, or pursued every day. Join us! Let’s amplify children’s voices and stand up for the rights of every child,” 

World Children’s Day is UNICEF’s Global Day of Action for children, by children, marking the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child on November 20. Around the world, children are standing up and talking about their lives, their hopes, and their rights.

Our research focuses on areas critical to child health in Tanzania and beyond:

Infectious Diseases: Advancing efforts to prevent, diagnose, and treat major childhood illnesses such as malaria, HIV, and tuberculosis through clinical trials, implementation research, and long-term interventions like the five-year CHILD Malaria study and vaccine trials such as R21/Matrix-M.

Early Childhood Development and Health Systems: Supporting integrated early childhood and family initiatives such as Kizazi Kijacho (The Next Generation), and strengthening pediatric and neonatal care through projects like IMPACT-Tanzania, NEST360, and the Kijana Imara Project: Improving Equitable Access to Quality SRHR for Adolescents.

Today, we reaffirm our dedication to listening to children, responding to their health needs, and championing their rights.