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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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

People wearing face masks line up to enter a children’s hospital in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on January 30, 2020 after the nation’s first case of novel coronavirus was reported.
Seven Things You Should Know About the Coronavirus Outbreak
UNICEF is providing supplies and expertise to help control the coronavirus outbreak. Stay safe by learning the facts.
Children ride in the back of a truck fleeing Idlib in northwest Syria due to escalating violence.
Desperate Times for Children and Families in Syria
Escalating violence in northwest Syria amid harsh winter conditions has compounded an already dire humanitarian crisis in the country.
Children peer out from a tent at a settlement for displaced families who have fled violence in souther Idlib and rural Aleppo in northwest Syria in January 2020.
UNICEF Winter Clothes Help Syrian Children Weather the Cold
For parents who must choose between putting food on the table and heating their family's tent, the winter gear shipment was a lifesaver.
More and more kids are demanding action on climate change.
Report: Time for a Radical Rethink on Child Health
The case for kid-centric solutions to the effects of climate change and other threats to children's health and development.
UNICEF works to help secure the release of child soldiers and support their recovery and rehabilitation as they transition back to civilian life.
'If We Want These Children to Stay Safe, There Are No Shortcuts'
Lack of funding threatens to shut down a vital UNICEF recovery program for former child soldiers in South Sudan.
Syrian refugee Bodoor, 17, attends a UNICEF-supported school in Azraq refugee camp in Jordan, where she has lived with her family since she was 12.
Growing Up in a Refugee Camp, Dreaming of the Stars
18-year-old Bodoor has her sights set on becoming an astronomer and Syria's first woman astronaut.
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