Media contacts and
Press releases

We are shocked by the decision taken today by the UK Government to begin implementing cuts to the ODA budget from 2025.

PORT SUDAN/NEW YORK – 26 March 2025 – Grave violations against children have surged across Sudan’s Darfur states since the start of the year, with 110 violations verified in North Darfur alone and a staggering 83 per cent increase in child casualties in Sudan compared to the first quarter of 2024.

Tuesday 25 March, 2025 - Gladiator star and Soccer Aid for UNICEF player Livi Sheldon, also known as Diamond, made a surprise visit to Adderley Primary School in Birmingham to kick-start the 2025 Soccer Aid for UNICEF Academy, which launches today.  

As families in Syria adjust to a new era in the country’s history following 14 years of brutal conflict, UNICEF calls for urgent support to ensure children have a safe and prosperous path ahead.

“The conflict in Yemen has reached a tragic milestone – over one decade of largely unrelenting conflict, with only brief and fragile periods of reduced hostilities, that has stolen childhoods, shattered futures, and left an entire generation fighting to survive.

GENEVA/NEW YORK/WASHINGTON D.C., 25 March 2025 – The number of children dying globally before their fifth birthday declined to 4.8 million in 2023, while stillbirths declined modestly, still remaining around 1.9 million, according to two new reports released today by the United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME).

“I’m horrified by reports of yet another attack devastating children’s lives, this time injuring at least 17 children and damaging a school this afternoon in Sumy, north-eastern Ukraine

“Spending four days with communities and partners in Haiti, still grappling with an ongoing crisis often forgotten by the international community, underscored how heavy the toll is for children and young people in the country. Vulnerable families are being pushed to the edge of catastrophe in the centre of the country as chaos continues to deprive children of lifesaving services and exposes them to severe protection risks. Their present and future are literally under attack.

NEW YORK/PORT SUDAN, Sudan, 21 March 2025 – UNICEF condemns in the strongest possible terms the looting of vital humanitarian supplies—intended to save the lives of malnourished children and provide critical healthcare to mothers and newborns from Al Bashair Hospital in Jabal Awlia, Khartoum. The looting, which included at least 2,200 cartons of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF), has put the lives of over 2,000 children suffering from Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) at risk.

In the last 25 years, we have made significant progress in tackling the global malnutrition crisis for children. Since the year 2000, the number of stunted children has decreased by 55 million, or one third. In 2024, UNICEF and our partners reached 441 million children under five with services to prevent all forms of malnutrition, while 9.3 million children received treatment for severe wasting and others forms of severe acute malnutrition.

UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Millie Bobby Brown met adolescent girls and young children while in São Paulo, Brazil, this week, to hear about their lives, the challenges they face, and how they are pursuing their dreams.

“Reports and images emerging from the Gaza Strip following today’s attacks are beyond horrifying. Hundreds of people have reportedly been killed, including more than 130 children, representing the largest single-day child death toll in the last year.

I have just concluded a four-day mission to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The situation is extremely concerning.

The resurgence of conflict in the province of South Kivu, in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), has forced more than 850,000 people—nearly half of them children—to flee their homes. Many are living in precarious conditions, taking shelter in schools, churches, or in the open, with limited access to clean water and sanitation, healthcare, and education.

GENEVA/NEW YORK, 14 March 2024 – "This morning, I would like to bring your attention to Sudan’s children—trapped in one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. I returned last week from a country where conflict, displacement, and hunger are destroying young lives.

With its economy and social services system and infrastructure in near collapse, and no end to the conflict in sight, we estimate that nearly two thirds of Sudan’s total population -- more than 30 million people -- will require humanitarian assistance this year.

GENEVA/COPENHAGEN, 13 March 2025 – 127,350 measles cases were reported in the European Region in 2024, double the number of cases reported for 2023 and the highest number since 1997, according to an analysis by WHO and UNICEF.

DHAKA/GENEVA, 11 March 2025 – “Children in the world’s largest refugee camp are experiencing the worst levels of malnutrition since the massive displacement that occurred in 2017.

DHAKA/COX’S BAZAR, Bangladesh, 11 March 2025 – The number of children needing emergency treatment for severe acute malnutrition in the Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh has surged by 27 per cent in February 2025 compared to the same period last year, as worsening conditions push more young children into life-threatening hunger.

NEW YORK, 5 March 2025 – “Announced and anticipated funding cuts will limit UNICEF’s ability to reach millions of children in dire need.