Children of war: urgent action is needed to save a generation.

Images, especially those published in mass and social media, paint a picture that no text or description can capture. Nowhere is this as evident as in recent wars where conflict has frequently had a child's face, often going viral across the world. From the fear and intensity in the eyes of the war orphan Sharbat Gula from Afghanistan, 1 to the sight of poor Alan Kurdi lying dead on a Turkish beach, 2 to the ashen faced Omran Dagnish who was pulled from the debris following an airstrike in Aleppo, 3 children have been the most egregious victims of conflict. The recent report from the UN Secretary General 4 paints a bleak picture of systematic abuse and violation of every existing regulation for the protection and safeguarding of children and families across a wide range of countries that are experiencing acute and long-standing conflict. Children continue to be affected disproportionately by widespread conflict and, given their vulnerability, often bear much more long-term consequences than adults. Although accurate mortality and morbidity statistics on the effect of war on children are hard to come by, over 1 billion children under the age of 18 live in countries affected by armed conflict. Some estimates suggest that over a third of all current maternal and child deaths occur in countries that are directly or indirectly affected by conflict or that have sizeable refugee populations. 5 The UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) was established over 60 years ago with the aim of protecting refugees in the wake of World War 2. At the time, there were an estimated 1·5 million refugees and displaced persons globally. By contrast, the most recent report of the UNHCR states that the number of people forcibly displaced at the end of 2014 had risen to a staggering 59·5 million, compared with 37·5 million in 2004. 6 Of these, 19·5 million people were newly displaced in 2014 and half of all refugees were children. 6 A recent analysis of the burden of disease in the Middle East suggests that the recent crises in Egypt, Yemen, Libya, and Syria have resulted in a reduction in life expectancy. In addition, review of the data from 1990–2013 indicates that if not for the conflict, life expectancy in Syria would have been 5 years higher for women and 6 years higher for men. 7 Children suffer the consequences of war and conflict in several …