Press releases
More than 10 children reportedly killed in attack on kindergarten in South Kordofan, Sudan
PORT SUDAN, 5 December 2025 – Drone strikes in Ghadeer locality, Kalogi, South Kordofan, have reportedly killed more than 10 children aged between 5 and 7 years, inside a kindergarten yesterday.
Surge in violence pushes children to the breaking point in northern Mozambique
NEW YORK/MAPUTO, 5 December 2025 – Over 100,000 people, around two thirds of them children, have been displaced in northern Mozambique during the month of November, following attacks against civilians.
Millions of children in Southeast Asia affected by relentless climate-related disasters
GENEVA, 05 December 2025 – “Over the past months and in recent weeks, children across five countries in Southeast Asia – Indonesia, Viet Nam, Thailand, the Philippines, and Malaysia – have faced the devastating effects of typhoons, floods and storms.
UNICEF UK responds to the Government's Child Poverty Strategy
London, Thursday 4 December 2025: Today the Child Poverty Taskforce has revealed their strategy to tackle child poverty in the UK - UNICEF UK responds.
UNICEF UK responds to the end of the two-child limit policy on Universal Credit
Wednesday 26 November 2025, London: Today the Government has announced a full scrap of the harmful two-child limit policy on Universal Credit from April 2026.
Gavi and UNICEF announce equitable pricing deal for malaria vaccine to protect 7 million more children by end of decade
Geneva/New York/Copenhagen, 24 November 2025 – Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and UNICEF today announced a new agreement that will make the R21/Matrix-M™ malaria vaccines significantly more accessible and affordable, paving the way to protect more children from one of the world’s deadliest diseases.
Reported abduction of children and teachers from a secondary school in Niger State, Nigeria
DAKAR/ABUJA, 22 November 2025 – Scores of children and teachers were reportedly abducted from a secondary school in Niger State, Nigeria, in the early hours of Friday, just days after a separate attack in Kebbi State on Monday led to the abduction of 25 girls from a boarding school.
More than 400 million children globally live in poverty – UNICEF
More than 1 in 5 children in low- and middle-income countries – or 417 million – are severely deprived in at least two vital areas critical for their health, development, and wellbeing, according to UNICEF’s flagship report issued on World Children’s Day today. Record numbers of children are living in poverty across the UK. The UK saw a 34% increase in relative child income poverty between 2013 and 2023. The UK has the highest increase in relative child income poverty of the 37 high-income countries reviewed.
Hurricane Melissa disrupts schooling for nearly 477,000 children across the Caribbean
PANAMA CITY, 17 November 2025 – Three weeks after Hurricane Melissa hit the Caribbean, nearly 477,000 children are experiencing significant disruptions to their schooling due to damaged or temporarily closed schools across Cuba, Haiti, and Jamaica.
The UK Committee for UNICEF (UNICEF UK) responds to the Global Fund Replenishment
Joanna Rea, Director of Advocacy for the UK Committee for UNICEF (UNICEF UK) said: “Cutting the UK’s pledge to the Global Fund to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria jeopardises vital partnerships that protect children from preventable diseases.
UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Orlando Bloom visits Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh, where funding cuts are putting half a million children’s futures at risk
UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Orlando Bloom visits Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh, where funding cuts are putting half a million children’s futures at risk
UNICEF UK statement on Goodwill Ambassador Sir David Beckham's knighthood
“It’s brilliant to see our UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, Sir David Beckham, receive his knighthood today, which is so deserved.”
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.