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Our Mission

7-month-old Kumbaba is carried by his mother, Oumou Sy, and accompanied by a health worker at the UNICEF-supported nutrition centre in Kaédi Hospital, in the city of Kaédi in the southern Gorgol Region.
Mauritania
UNICEF/NYHQ2012-0465/MIA BRANDT

Putting children first all over the world

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) works in more than 190 countries and territories to put children first. UNICEF has helped save more children’s lives than any other humanitarian organization by providing health care and immunizations, safe water and sanitation, nutrition, education, emergency relief and more.

UNICEF USA supports UNICEF’s work through fundraising, advocacy and education in the United States. Together, we are working
toward the day when no children die from preventable causes, and every child has a safe and healthy childhood.

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Be the first to know about UNICEF's relief efforts in times of emergency.

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Fast Fact
45
%
UNICEF helps immunize 45 percent of the world’s children.
+
50
%
UNICEF's lifesaving interventions have helped cut child deaths by more than 50% since 1990.
16
thousand
Despite progress, 16,000 children still die every day from causes we can prevent.
190
UNICEF works in more than 190 countries and territories to save and protect children.
300
Last year, UNICEF responded to nearly 300 humanitarian emergencies, many of them still ongoing.
72
hours
UNICEF can ship lifesaving supplies to children anywhere in the world within 48 to 72 hours.
100
UNICEF works in more than 100 countries to improve access to safe water and sanitation facilities.
1
billion
Since 2000, UNICEF has distributed 1 billion insecticide-treated bed nets across Africa.

What UNICEF USA Is Doing

UNICEF USA supports UNICEF, and other efforts in support of the world's children, through fundraising, advocacy and education in the United States.

Where UNICEF Works

UNICEF works in more than 190 countries and territories all over the world. Here are a few regions where UNICEF has focused its work recently.

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What UNICEF Is Doing

Saving Children's Lives
Building Children's Futures
Emergency Relief

Stories About Our Mission

Wounded people are treated at a hospital following an explosion near the port in the Lebanese capital Beirut on August 4, 2020.
A Deadly Blast Rocks Lebanon, Already in Crisis
Faced with economic collapse and surging COVID-19 cases, Lebanon's children & families need urgent assistance. UNICEF is there to help.
Anik, 8, suffered the effects of lead exposure when a battery recycling plant opened up near his home in Kathgora, north of Dhaka, Bangladesh.
1 in 3 of the World's Children Poisoned by Lead
UNICEF and partner Pure Earth report alarming lead levels in children and an urgent call to action to strengthen protections.
UNICEF Yemen Representative Sara Beysolow Nyanti (second from right) in Sana'a, Yemen.
UNICEF Is Getting Cash Directly to Yemeni Families Who Need It Most
UNICEF's Sara Beysolow Nyanti reflects on successes and challenges of maintaining a massive cash transfer program in Yemen during COVID-19.
UNICEF helps unaccompanied child migrants like Berhan, 17, who left Ethiopia to find work but was captured by human traffickers in Yemen and held prisoner for five months.
Helping Trafficked Children Get Their Lives Back
Human traffickers prey upon children in desperate circumstances who cross borders alone, hoping to find work to support their families.
Tropical Storm Gonzalo Bearing Down on Several Caribbean Islands
As the 2020 season's seventh named storm drenches the Caribbean, UNICEF readies emergency supplies to help communities hard hit by COVID-19.
A child washes hands with a new low-cost soap being produced and distributed in Burundi through a partnership between UNICEF and soap company Savonor.
Burundi Needs More Soap to Stay Safe. A New Partnership Aims to Help
To fight COVID-19, UNICEF has joined forces with soap maker Savonor to make handwashing cheaper and easier for children and families.
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