Press releases
Hunger and malnutrition deepen as conflict and access constraints persist in South Sudan
JUBA, South Sudan, 4 November 2025 – The United Nations today warns that South Sudan continues to face a severe food and nutrition crisis, which is threatening to deteriorate further unless urgent humanitarian action is mounted.
Famine conditions confirmed in Sudan’s Al Fasher and Kadugli but hunger and malnutrition ease where conflict subsides
ROME/NEW YORK/GENEVA, 4 November 2025 – The latest analysis of food insecurity and malnutrition in Sudan shows stark contrasts along conflict lines, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Food Programme (WFP) and UNICEF warned today. In areas where violence has subsided – allowing humanitarian access and market recovery – food security has begun to improve. But in conflict-hit locations that have been largely cut off from humanitarian assistance or under siege, famine has now taken hold.
UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Liam Neeson travels to South Sudan to meet children in a country under threat from global funding cuts
JUBA/NEW YORK, 27 October 2025 – UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Liam Neeson visited South Sudan last week to see the impacts of economic shocks, climate change, poverty, and insecurity on children’s lives, especially girls, against a backdrop of severe global cuts to official development assistance.
At least 1.6 million children at risk as Hurricane Melissa moves through the Caribbean
PANAMA CITY, 26 October 2025 - As Hurricane Melissa is moving slowly across the Caribbean Sea, the winds, torrential rains, and flash flooding have put at least 1.6 million children at risk, according to UNICEF estimates.
Gaza’s ceasefire offers a vital chance for children – it must be seized
AMMAN, 26 October 2025 – “Two weeks ago, the start of the latest ceasefire in the Gaza Strip delivered long-awaited relief for families, where it offers a vital chance for the survival, safety and dignity of children.
“Sudan is the world’s largest humanitarian crisis - and children are paying the highest price”
N'DJAMENA/NEW YORK 24 October 2025 – "Thank you for joining us. I speak to you a day after leaving Darfur, following a mission that also took me to Khartoum."What I saw was alarming. Sudan is the world’s largest humanitarian crisis. The conflict is escalating, and children are paying the highest price.
IOM, UNHCR, UNICEF and WFP urge immediate action to address escalating humanitarian crisis in Sudan
GENEVA/NEW YORK/ROME/PORT SUDAN, 23 October 2025 – Four United Nations agencies today called for urgent international attention on the crisis in Sudan, to address the immense suffering and growing dangers to the population. Over 900 days of brutal fighting, widespread violations of human rights, famine, and the breakdown of life-sustaining services have pushed millions to the brink of survival, particularly women and children.
Musician and Poet Arlo Parks supports UNICEF UK and Dove to build children’s body confidence and self-esteem
London, UK, October 10 2025 - UNICEF UK Ambassador Arlo Parks joined pupils at Moreland School in Islington for a Dove Self-Esteem Project workshop (DSEP) focused on building body confidence and self-esteem.
Number of displaced children in Haiti almost doubles in one year
PORT-AU-PRINCE/NEW YORK, 9 October 2025 – The number of children displaced by violence in Haiti has almost doubled in the past year, with 680,000 now uprooted from their homes, according to a new UNICEF Child Alert report released today. Overall, more than 1.3 million people are displaced across the country as spiraling violence, collapsing services, and lack of humanitarian access push Haiti deeper into crisis.
UNICEF and Bukhman Philanthropies partner to launch landmark study on childhood in the digital age
London, 30 September 2025 – Understanding how online and offline influences interact to shape adolescent development and wellbeing is at the heart of a new initiative announced today by UNICEF. The leading child rights organisation is partnering with Bukhman Philanthropies to support Navigating Childhood in the Digital Age — a four-year longitudinal study led by UNICEF’s Global Office of Research and Foresight.
DR Congo: UNICEF delivers vaccines and life-saving support as Ebola outbreak hits Kasai
KINSHASA, DR Congo, 24 September 2025 – Nearly 45,000 doses of the Ebola vaccine are on their way to Kasai province as UNICEF intensifies efforts alongside the government and partners to protect children and families from the latest outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
Ten children killed in ten days in Port-au-Prince
Port-au-Prince, 23 September 2025 – “UNICEF is deeply shocked and concerned by the killing of ten children in ten days in Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti.
At least 11 children reportedly killed in attack on a mosque in Sudan’s North Darfur State
NEW YORK/AMMAN/PORT SUDAN, 22 September 2025 – “The drone attack on a mosque at the Abu Shouk camp for internally displaced people in Al Fasher, North Darfur, during Fajr prayers three days ago is shocking and unconscionable. Initial reports indicate that at least 11 children, aged 6 to 15, were killed in the deadly attack, which hit not only the mosque, but also adjacent homes.
Statement by UNICEF on the theft of lifesaving therapeutic food for thousands of children in Gaza
“Yesterday, armed individuals approached four trucks outside our compound in Gaza City that were getting ready to transport desperately needed Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) for malnourished children enduring famine.
Children make more than half of all deaths in the aftermath of Afghanistan earthquake
KABUL, 12 September 2025 - “Afghanistan is once again reeling from tragedy and children are at the sharp end of an aggravating crisis. We must respond not only with urgency, but with a commitment to immediately reverse it.
UNICEF statement on reported death of children after brutal attack on school in Rakhine State, Myanmar
NEW YORK/BANGKOK/YANGON, 12 September 2025 — UNICEF is extremely concerned by reports of an overnight attack on a boarding school in Kyauktaw Township, Rakhine State, Myanmar, that reportedly killed and injured children as they slept.
Obesity exceeds underweight for the first time among school-age children and adolescents globally – UNICEF
NEW YORK, 10 September 2025 – Obesity surpassed underweight as the more prevalent form of malnutrition this year, affecting 1 in 10 – or 188 million – school-aged children and adolescents, and placing them at risk of life-threatening disease, UNICEF warned in a new report today.
Four children reportedly killed in wave of deadly attacks on Kyiv, Ukraine
GENEVA/KYIV, 28 August 2025 – “A wave of deadly attacks hit Kyiv during the early hours of this morning – reportedly killing four children, including a toddler. At least 10 children were reportedly injured. The children were at home in their beds, trying to sleep.
Global hunger declines, but rises in Africa and western Asia: UN report
ADDIS ABABA — An estimated 8.2 percent of the global population, or about 673 million people, experienced hunger in 2024, down from 8.5 percent in 2023 and 8.7 percent in 2022. However, progress was not consistent across the globe, as hunger continued to rise in most subregions of Africa and western Asia, according to this year’s The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI 2025) report published today by five specialized agencies of the United Nations.