Three Things I Am Carrying With Me From My Time in India

I recently traveled to India with colleagues from UNICEF USA and team members from Eli Lilly and Company , including Cynthia Cardona , to witness firsthand how health systems strengthening is making a meaningful impact for children and their communities in resource-limited settings.

At UNICEF USA, program visits like this one offer an important opportunity for staff, supporters and partners to experience the real, tangible results of the programs we work year-round to champion.

These visits also provide space for collaboration, strengthening relationships across our global teams and reigniting our shared commitment to ensuring every child is healthy, educated, protected and respected — everywhere and throughout their lives.

During this trip, one area of focus was understanding how children and adolescents living with non-communicable diseases (NCDs) like asthma, diabetes, heart disease and sickle cell disease in resource-limited settings in low- and middle-income countries are receiving care. NCD care is an important area of UNICEF’s work — and one made possible through support from Eli Lilly and Company to UNICEF USA.

It was a visit filled with learning, connection and moments I’ll carry with me for a long time.

Here are a few reflections I brought home.

1. Young people aren’t just the leaders of tomorrow. They’re leading today.

In a rural classroom in Maharashtra, I watched a group of schoolchildren stand in front of their peers, leading a lesson about nutrition, healthy habits and disease prevention. They weren’t just learning in their classroom; they were teaching — confidently, clearly, with knowledge that will ripple far beyond their school and meaningfully impact their community. They demonstrated with peers how they use creativity, movement and even a life-sized board game to turn health education into something fun and memorable — proof that when we trust young people to lead in their own ways, they are some of our most effective and inspiring agents of change.

That moment (and the picture above) captured so much of what I saw throughout the week. Alongside families, health workers, community leaders and humanitarians working together, children and adolescents were also taking action. In some cases, they were leading the charge.

Across clinics, schools and health centers, we saw how UNICEF is helping communities integrate prevention, screening and treatment for childhood NCDs into daily life, including schools, with a focus on sustainable, community-owned systems.

Strengthening these systems at the community level doesn’t just transform local health outcomes — it lays the foundation for healthier generations, stronger economies and more resilient societies around the world.

2. The path to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals runs through the world’s youngest generations — including the 1 in 5 children who call India home.

I’ll say it again. One in five children globally lives in India.

And once more. One in five! That statistic alone should make clear that if we’re serious about achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, we must prioritize the health, education and well-being of India’s youngest generation, and of children and adolescents everywhere.

Investing in and supporting children’s health and development is one of the smartest, most urgent ways we can build a safer, stronger and more prosperous future — for every child, yes, and for us all. When children grow up healthy and thriving, communities become stronger, systems become more resilient and opportunity expands for generations to come.

3. Progress requires collaboration.

No one person, no one group or organization can do this alone. The progress we saw in India wouldn’t be possible without the collaboration of local leaders (of all ages), community health workers, UNICEF teams and our supporters.

I’m especially grateful to Cynthia Cardona and her team at Eli Lilly and Company for their support to UNICEF USA to improve the health outcomes of millions of children and youth at risk of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) living in resource-limited settings in India.

Together, we’re helping to ensure more children can be screened, treated and supported with care that lasts. Private sector supporters like Lilly are playing a powerful role in helping UNICEF scale what works and meet growing challenges with speed, innovation and impact.

It’s on all of us — across sectors, across borders — to help create the conditions where every child has the chance to thrive.

And one more thing…

A final lesson learned? Always pay attention to your surroundings.

My team made me promise to share this — a hilarious (to them) and startling (to me) encounter with a very protective mama.

Let’s just say… the local (beautiful, incredible) wildlife in India keeps you on your toes.