Every year, UNICEF responds to hundreds of humanitarian emergencies around the world — braving war zones, treacherous terrain, disasters and disease to save and protect the most vulnerable children.When a humanitarian emergency strikes, UNICEF is there, working to protect children and families.
Kids need UNICEF now more than ever:
- The number of people in the world in need of humanitarian assistance continues to climb. Key drivers of humanitarian needs include the ongoing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, conflict, poverty, malnutrition and climate change.
- Urbanization, environmental degradation, large-scale migration, forced displacements and public health emergencies increasingly compound the threats children face.
- According to UNHCR, there are over 100 million people in the world who have been forced to flee conflict, violence, human rights violations and persecution — a record number. Half of the world's refugees are under 18.
- There are nearly 10 million internally displaced persons aged 15 to 24 who lack opportunities to realize their full potential.
- The number of climate disasters — from severe drought to flooding — has tripled over the last 30 years, increasing water scarcity and food insecurity and displacing more and more families from their homes.
- In war, children under age 5 are more than 20 times more likely to die from diarrheal disease linked to unsafe water and sanitation than from conflict-related violence.
Meet Birma Kunwar. She is one of many UNICEF-supported health workers in Nepal who make difficult journeys over rough terrain to deliver vaccines to remote areas. “In the village, people are eagerly waiting for vaccines. They ask me constantly when vaccines will arrive, when can they get it,” says Birma. "I feel happy the government has made provisions to vaccinate people.”
Meet Birma Kunwar. She is one of many UNICEF-supported health workers in Nepal who make difficult journeys over rough terrain to deliver vaccines to remote areas.
Why donate to UNICEF? It’s a smart way to make your money go further for children:UNICEF makes your online donations go further for children
- UNICEF has contacts: UNICEF works in more than 190 countries and territories, more than any other children’s organization.
- UNICEF acts quickly: Thanks to UNICEF’s emergency response systems and global supply chain, help can reach children in an emergency — almost anywhere in the world — within 72 hours. UNICEF-supported Blue Dot centers in countries bordering Ukraine are meeting immediate needs of tens of thousands of refugee children and women every day.
- UNICEF gets results: UNICEF vaccinates 46 percent of the world's children to protect them from potentially deadly diseases — focusing on the most vulnerable and hardest-to-reach children, including children in humanitarian settings.
- UNICEF gives families the help they need: Million of households are benefiting from cash assistance to meet families’ basic needs and relieve the economic pressures that can send children to work rather than school.
- UNICEF employs proven strategies for helping children in emergencies heal: UNICEF connects children with the psychosocial support they need to cope with the immediate and long-term effects of exposure to war and other traumas.
- UNICEF makes sure kids can be kids: Child-Friendly Spaces in emergency settings offer displaced and otherwise vulnerable children with a safe place to play and learn and find some normalcy — all critical to their recovery.
- UNICEF works in more than 190 countries and territories, more than any other children’s organization.
- UNICEF overcomes challenges to reach 45 percent of the world's children with essential immunizations.
- Millions of households benefit from UNICEF cash transfers — helping families feed their children, get them to school and heat their homes.
- UNICEF Child-Friendly Spaces and psychosocial support services help children recover from trauma.
Meet the UNICEF workers helping kids around the world
UNICEF: saving and changing lives
Meet Rashed. He is one of more than 910,000 Rohingya people who fled genocide in Myanmar since August 2017. Today he helps his family make do in the camps of Bangladesh, but he has hopes and plans for a brighter future.
Meet Rashed, one of the more than 900,000 Rohingya who have fled genocide in Myanmar since August 2017. Today he helps his family make do in a Bangladesh refugee camp, where UNICEF programs help kids like him focus on a brighter future.
Recommended Stories
A virtual tour of the Blue Dot center in Serit, Romania, one of 26 being set up to aid children and families fleeing war in Ukraine. [VIDEO]
One month into a brutal war, Ukraine's children are traumatized and in desperate need of assistance. UNICEF is there to help.
Amid a devastating humanitarian and economic crisis, UNICEF is bringing much-needed relief to children in Afghanistan.
UNICEF's humanitarian response in and around Syria reflects deep, devastating effects of over a decade of violence and rights violations.
Medicine, midwifery kits and other lifesaving supplies have reached Lviv. More emergency supplies are on the way.
UNICEF is on the ground assisting vulnerable Rohingya refugee children and their families in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh.