Press releases

19 February 2021 - Statement from Joanna Rea, Director of Advocacy at the UK National Committee for UNICEF (UNICEF UK).

19 February 2021 - Global indifference putting a generation of children at risk in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

17 February 2021 - UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore's remarks on global access to COVID-19 vaccines

12 February 2021 – As more supplies and emergency personnel reach crisis-affected people in Tigray, a troubling picture is emerging of severe harm to children.

Nearly 2.3 million children under the age of five in Yemen are projected to suffer from acute malnutrition in 2021, four United Nations agencies warned today. Of these, 400,000 are expected to suffer from severe acute malnutrition and could die if they do not receive urgent treatment.

UNICEF announced today the signing of an agreement with Pfizer on behalf of the COVAX Facility for the supply of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine through 2021.

Of the 128 million vaccine doses administered so far, more than three quarters of those vaccinations are in just 10 countries that account for 60% of global GDP

UNICEF is deploying additional staff and preparing to send medical equipment and supplies to North Kivu following the confirmation of a new case of Ebola in eastern DRC.

Conjoined twins born in Sana’a in mid-December last year have been medically evacuated this morning to Amman, Jordan, where they will undergo a separation surgery, starting with an assessment.

Today we are pleased to announce the conclusion of a long-term supply agreement with the Serum Institute of India for covid-19 vaccines, to access two vaccine products through technology transfer from ASTRAZENECA and NOVAVAX. UNICEF, along with our procurement partners including PAHO, will have access to up to 1.1 billion doses of vaccines for around 100 countries, for approximately $3 a dose for the low- and lower middle-income countries.

31 January 2021 - Statement by Bo Viktor Nylund, UNICEF Representative in Syria.

27 January 2021 – “The very little we know about the impact of the conflict on children in Tigray – from limited partner accounts and UN assessments – is deeply troubling."

26 January 2021 - Region’s children and families still recovering from devastation wrought by Cyclone Idai less than two years ago.

COVAX, the global initiative to ensure rapid and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines for all countries, regardless of income level, today announced the signing of an advance purchase agreement with Pfizer for up to 40 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine candidate, which has already received WHO Emergency Use Listing. Rollout will commence with the successful negotiation and execution of supply agreements.

22 January 2021 - UNICEF warns that armed conflict could lead to higher rates of malnutrition and violations of children’s rights .

The economic impact of COVID-19 on the world’s most populous region is threatening to further undermine efforts to improve diets and nutrition of nearly two billion people in Asia and the Pacific who were already unable to afford healthy diets prior to the pandemic, says a new report published today by four specialized agencies of the United Nations.

The four leading international health and humanitarian organizations announced today the establishment of a global Ebola vaccine stockpile to ensure outbreak response. 

Such wanton violence and disregard for the lives of children and families must be condemned in the strongest possible terms. These heinous acts are grave violations of children’s rights and of international humanitarian and human rights law. UNICEF calls for the immediate cessation of attacks against children, their families and communities.