Treating violence against children as a disease

Jacqueline Bhabha is a Professor of the Practice of Health and Human Rights at the Harvard T.H.Chan School of Public Health, the Jeremiah Smith Jr. Lecturer in Law at Harvard Law School, and an Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. She is also the Director of Research at the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University.

A writer, actor, and child-rights activist, Nandana Dev Sen is the author of six children’s books, and two volumes of poetry in translation. Her own work has been translated into more than 15 languages globally. Her first book, Kangaroo Kisses, was selected by 320+ UK schools as a “Book of Excellence,” and her interactive workshops have been loved, in person, by more than 50,000 young people across the world. 

Nandana grew up in India, England and America, and has starred in 20 feature films from four continents, and in multiple languages. She studied filmmaking at USC, and literature at Harvard (winning such honors as the Detur Book Prize, John Harvard Scholarship, Elizabeth Cary Agassiz Award, and Phi Beta Kappa). Over the years, Nandana has worked as a book editor at Houghton Mifflin, a literary translator, an interpreter and advocate for refugee families, a screenwriter and filmmaker, and as Princess Jasmine in Disneyland. The winner of multiple awards for Best Actress in a Leading Role (e.g. the Kalakar, TeleCine, and Big Bangla Awards), Nandana has served on the jury of a wide variety of international film festivals (in Rome, London, New York, Abu Dhabi, Pune, Innsbruck, etc. ), global literary prizes (such as the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature, and the Orwell Youth Prize), and public hearings against child abuse (for the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights). Some of Nandana’s other honors include the Wingword Poetry Prize, and the Last-Girl Champion Award for lifetime achievement in child protection. 

As an Ambassador, Nandana has represented UNICEF, Save the Children, Operation Smile, Terre des Hommes, RAHI, and Apne Aap Women Worldwide. Currently, Nandana is Global Author Advocate for Room to Read, and a Director of Women’s Refugee Commission, New York, where she chairs the Program and Advocacy Committee. 

Since 1987, Susan Bissell’s career has focused on the rights, safety and security of children and she is currently serving on a number of Boards, teaching, and writing. Susan spent over twenty-five years working in various capacities for UNICEF, and from 2016 until 2018 led the establishment of the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children and its associated Fund.

From 2009 to 2015, Susan served as Associate Director and Chief of Child Protection for UNICEF. Author of a number of research studies, she has worked with UNICEF in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, India, Italy (at the Innocenti Research Centre in Florence), and New York City. Susan earned a PhD in public health and medical anthropology from the University of Melbourne, Australia. While completing her doctorate, she joined Trudie Styler and the Bangladeshi film team Catherine and Tareque Masud to produce the documentary A Kind of Childhood which has won awards and been screened widely. She holds a BA and MA from the University of Toronto.

On behalf of her UNICEF Child Protection colleagues, Susan accepted awards including an honorary professorship at Barnard College/Columbia University, the Dr. Jean Mayer Global Citizenship award from Tufts University, the Flambeau D’or from Panathlon International, and the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. Susan was also honored as the Weissberg Chair in International Studies, at Beloit College.

Student at the Technical University of Munich. Project manager in the YouthBridge Leadership Program. Director of the documentary Return Date: Unknown.

Since 1987, Susan Bissell’s career has focused on the rights, safety and security of children and she is currently serving on a number of Boards, teaching, and writing. Susan spent over twenty-five years working in various capacities for UNICEF, and from 2016 until 2018 led the establishment of the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children and its associated Fund.

From 2009 to 2015, Susan served as Associate Director and Chief of Child Protection for UNICEF. Author of a number of research studies, she has worked with UNICEF in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, India, Italy (at the Innocenti Research Centre in Florence), and New York City. Susan earned a PhD in public health and medical anthropology from the University of Melbourne, Australia. While completing her doctorate, she joined Trudie Styler and the Bangladeshi film team Catherine and Tareque Masud to produce the documentary A Kind of Childhood which has won awards and been screened widely. She holds a BA and MA from the University of Toronto.

On behalf of her UNICEF Child Protection colleagues, Susan accepted awards including an honorary professorship at Barnard College/Columbia University, the Dr. Jean Mayer Global Citizenship award from Tufts University, the Flambeau D’or from Panathlon International, and the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. Susan was also honored as the Weissberg Chair in International Studies, at Beloit College.

Jacqueline Bhabha is a Professor of the Practice of Health and Human Rights at the Harvard T.H.Chan School of Public Health, the Jeremiah Smith Jr. Lecturer in Law at Harvard Law School, and an Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. She is also the Director of Research at the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University.

Dr. Vasileia Digidiki is a psychologist and internationally recognized expert in distress migration, child protection and human trafficking with more than 15 years of experience in research, education, and policy advocacy at the intersection of psychology,  public health, and human rights.

After nearly a decade of leading the research portfolio of the FXB Center’s migration work, Dr. Digidiki formally assumed directorship of the distress migration program in 2025. Over the past 10 years, she has conducted more than 15 major research and policy projects across various regions —from the camps of Lesvos, Greece to detention centers in the U.S., and from communities in West and Central Africa, Libya, Poland, Mexico and Colombia, to Rohingya settlements in Cox’s Bazar. Her interdisciplinary research bridges psychology, law, and public health, with a deep focus on child protection in contexts of distress migration, human trafficking, and forced displacement.

She is widely recognized for her groundbreaking contributions to child protection research, including authoring the first global report on child trafficking commissioned by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), a landmark analysis based on data from over 63,000 cases, and the first report on the sexual exploitation of migrant children in Greece. She has led high-impact, multi-country studies supported by international organizations including the IOM, Profamilia, and BRAC.

Fridoon Joinda is a multimedia producer and human rights advocate. He was born in Kabul and fled in 2016 due to his family’s media work, eventually arriving at Moria Refugee Camp in Greece, where he lived for over a year. There, he documented refugee experiences.
Fridoon holds a BA in Communication from The American College of Greece and completed a Harvard field course on Migration and Refugee Studies. He has also completed numerous courses on entrepreneurship, AI, and management.

Over the past decade, he has produced internationally screened documentaries, interviewed influential individuals, and spoken at major events.

Fridoon has received multiple awards and recognition from institutions like the United Nations, is a two-time finalist for the Obama Foundation Scholars Program, and was selected for the International Visitor Leadership Program. He is also featured by Business Partner Magazine among influential changemakers and among distinguished alumni of The American College of Greece in its 150th-anniversary publication.

He is currently developing the European social media platform that protects user privacy, ensures fair rewards for creators, and secures Europe’s digital sovereignty.

Since 1987, Susan Bissell’s career has focused on the rights, safety and security of children and she is currently serving on a number of Boards, teaching, and writing. Susan spent over twenty-five years working in various capacities for UNICEF, and from 2016 until 2018 led the establishment of the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children and its associated Fund.

From 2009 to 2015, Susan served as Associate Director and Chief of Child Protection for UNICEF. Author of a number of research studies, she has worked with UNICEF in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, India, Italy (at the Innocenti Research Centre in Florence), and New York City. Susan earned a PhD in public health and medical anthropology from the University of Melbourne, Australia. While completing her doctorate, she joined Trudie Styler and the Bangladeshi film team Catherine and Tareque Masud to produce the documentary A Kind of Childhood which has won awards and been screened widely. She holds a BA and MA from the University of Toronto.

On behalf of her UNICEF Child Protection colleagues, Susan accepted awards including an honorary professorship at Barnard College/Columbia University, the Dr. Jean Mayer Global Citizenship award from Tufts University, the Flambeau D’or from Panathlon International, and the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. Susan was also honored as the Weissberg Chair in International Studies, at Beloit College.

Dr. Satchit Balsari is Associate Professor in Emergency Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center; and in the department of Global Health and Population at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Dr. Balsari’s research and teaching is focused on complex humanitarian emergencies and digital health implementation science in resource poor settings. He has worked with populations affected by disaster, war and the COVID-19 pandemic in Iraq, South Sudan, Jordan, Haiti, Puerto Rico and across South Asia. In the most vulnerable communities in the world, his team has leveraged cutting edge digital tools and citizen science to advance public health planning, advocacy and response. Dr. Balsari has been affiliated with the Harvard FXB Center for nearly two decades.

The Balsari Lab collaborates directly with populations in distress, humanitarian response agencies, civil society organizations, governments, and international agencies, to reduce the information asymmetry that threatens to exclude the poor and disadvantaged from decisions that will impact their lives. See BalsariLab.com for more.

At Harvard, Dr. Balsari co-directs CrisisReady.io, a research-response platform that builds data-driven decision tools for local communities and response agencies affected by disasters globally. Dr. Balsari is founding director of the tri-institute Climate and Human Health fellowship at Harvard, leads the climate platform at the Mittal South Asia Institute, and is co-investigator on the Salata Institute’s inaugural interfaculty Cluster grant on Climate Change Adaptation in South Asia.

Jennifer Leaning, MD, SMH, is a senior fellow at the Harvard FXB Center and Professor of the Practice of Health and Human Rights at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. As associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, she is a faculty member in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. She served as the director of the Harvard FXB Center from January 1, 2010 until September 1, 2018. Prior to her appointment in 2010, Dr. Leaning served for five years as co-director of the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative. From 1999 to 2005 Dr. Leaning directed the Program on Humanitarian Crises and Human Rights at the Harvard FXB Center. During the 1980s and 1990s Dr. Leaning held progressively responsible roles in medical management at Harvard Community Health Plan (now Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates) and was medical director of the Health Centers Division from 1992-1997.  She has worked clinically in emergency medicine from 1978 (and at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston from 1986-2005).

Her research interests focus on issues of public health and international law in response to war and disaster, early warning for mass atrocities, and problems of human security in the context of forced migration and conflict. She has field experience in assessment of issues of public health, human rights, and international humanitarian law in a range of crisis situations (including Afghanistan, Albania, Angola, Kosovo, the Middle East, Pakistan, the former Soviet Union, Somalia, the Chad-Darfur border, and the African Great Lakes area). She has published widely on these topics and submitted reports and policy briefings to US and UN agencies, the International Criminal Court, and major NGOs.

She has served on the boards of Physicians for Human Rights, Physicians for Social Responsibility, and Oxfam America, and the Humane Society of the United States. She has served on several advisory committees, most recently as a member of the Global Health Advisory Committee for the Open Society Foundations. Currently, she is a member of the Steering Committee of the Global Action Against Mass Atrocity Crimes and the Board of Directors of  the Norwegian Refugee Council USA, and the Board of Directors of the American Red Cross of the Massachusetts Region.  She was editor of the international journal Medicine and Global Survival, from 1994-2001, and serves on several journal editorial boards as well as the Board of Syndics at Harvard University Press.

Since 1987, Susan Bissell’s career has focused on the rights, safety and security of children and she is currently serving on a number of Boards, teaching, and writing. Susan spent over twenty-five years working in various capacities for UNICEF, and from 2016 until 2018 led the establishment of the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children and its associated Fund.

From 2009 to 2015, Susan served as Associate Director and Chief of Child Protection for UNICEF. Author of a number of research studies, she has worked with UNICEF in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, India, Italy (at the Innocenti Research Centre in Florence), and New York City. Susan earned a PhD in public health and medical anthropology from the University of Melbourne, Australia. While completing her doctorate, she joined Trudie Styler and the Bangladeshi film team Catherine and Tareque Masud to produce the documentary A Kind of Childhood which has won awards and been screened widely. She holds a BA and MA from the University of Toronto.

On behalf of her UNICEF Child Protection colleagues, Susan accepted awards including an honorary professorship at Barnard College/Columbia University, the Dr. Jean Mayer Global Citizenship award from Tufts University, the Flambeau D’or from Panathlon International, and the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. Susan was also honored as the Weissberg Chair in International Studies, at Beloit College.

Since 1987, Susan Bissell’s career has focused on the rights, safety and security of children and she is currently serving on a number of Boards, teaching, and writing. Susan spent over twenty-five years working in various capacities for UNICEF, and from 2016 until 2018 led the establishment of the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children and its associated Fund.

From 2009 to 2015, Susan served as Associate Director and Chief of Child Protection for UNICEF. Author of a number of research studies, she has worked with UNICEF in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, India, Italy (at the Innocenti Research Centre in Florence), and New York City. Susan earned a PhD in public health and medical anthropology from the University of Melbourne, Australia. While completing her doctorate, she joined Trudie Styler and the Bangladeshi film team Catherine and Tareque Masud to produce the documentary A Kind of Childhood which has won awards and been screened widely. She holds a BA and MA from the University of Toronto.

On behalf of her UNICEF Child Protection colleagues, Susan accepted awards including an honorary professorship at Barnard College/Columbia University, the Dr. Jean Mayer Global Citizenship award from Tufts University, the Flambeau D’or from Panathlon International, and the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. Susan was also honored as the Weissberg Chair in International Studies, at Beloit College.

This book explores the protection of children in our increasingly tumultuous world. It examines ways to effectively shield children from harm and vulnerabilities. Experts address the myriad challenges children face, including migration, child labor, war, violence, adoption, foster care, natural disasters, resource distribution, and systemic failures. The discussions also delve into societal norms that shape both the protection of children and those that perpetuate harmful practices like corporal punishment, child marriage, and female genital mutilation and cutting. Uniquely, this volume seeks to unify the fragmented field of child protection by proposing a new global framework. This framework emphasizes the interconnectedness of child rights, public health, and children’s capabilities. The editors argue that children endure harm—and its lasting impacts—in similar ways across a variety of contexts. Many of these harmful contexts cross national and regional borders. Factors such as nationality, class, and culture provide no reliable safeguard for children. Protecting the World’s Children is a practical, solution-focused book. It highlights and discusses the serious effects of climate change, poverty, conflict, and social exclusion on children, making it timely and relevant. The book offers valuable insights for professionals, as well as activists and advocates dedicated to promoting children’s rights. Creating a safer world for children is the ultimate aim.