Press releases

23 July 2020 – Weeks of torrential monsoon rains, widespread flooding and deadly landslides in Bangladesh, India and Nepal have affected millions of children and families, UNICEF said today.

23rd July 2020 - Statement from Unicef UK Executive Director, Sacha Deshmukh on Government cuts to UK aid spending in light of the recent pandemic.

22 July 2020 – Economic shocks, conflict, floods, desert locusts and now Coronavirus are creating a perfect storm that could reverse hard-earned food security gains in Yemen, warns the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis released today by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the World Food Programme (WFP) and partners.

t least 40 million children worldwide have missed out on early childhood education in their critical pre-school year as Coronavirus shuttered childcare and early education facilities, according to a new research brief published today by UNICEF.

15 July 2020 – The World Health Organization and UNICEF warned today of an alarming decline in the number of children receiving lifesaving vaccines.

13 July 2020 – More people are going hungry, an annual study by the United Nations has found. Tens of millions have joined the ranks of the chronically undernourished over the past five years, and countries around the world continue to struggle with multiple forms of malnutrition.

"...learning will have been affected by the lockdown, so too will children’s social and emotional wellbeing. Therefore it is critical for schools to have the resources they need to go beyond making up for lost learning to create environments where children can thrive, and can deliver the Government’s ambition to ensure every child receives a “world-class education”. It is also important children, parents and teachers are consulted as part of recovery planning to ensure decisions are made in the best interest of children."

30 June 2020 - New survey asked Syrian people about the greatest challenges and concerns they and their children face nearly a decade since the war began.

So far this year, UNICEF has shipped key personal protective equipment (PPE) supplies to over 100 countries to support their response to the pandemic, including 7.5 million surgical masks, 2.8 million N95 respirators, nearly 10 million gloves, over 830,000 gowns, and nearly 600,000 face shields. UNICEF also shipped over 550,000 diagnostic tests, with an additional 912,000 planned to be delivered through August and is sending over 16,000 oxygen concentrators to 90 low- and middle-income countries.

26 June 2020 - Millions of children in Yemen could be pushed to ‘the brink of starvation’ due to huge shortfalls in humanitarian aid funding amid the Coronavirus pandemic – according to a new UNICEF report marking more than five years since conflict escalated in the country.

UNICEF welcomes the announcement by the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)  of the end of the 23-month long Ebola outbreak in the east of the country, but warned that increased efforts must continue in response to a new outbreak in the north-western province of Equateur.

23 June 2020 - A summary of remarks by Henrietta Fore, UNICEF Executive Director at Security Council Open Debate at the United Nations in New York.

23 June 2020 – The Coronavirus pandemic is unravelling decades of health, education and other advances for children across South Asia.

18 June 2020— A first batch of 10,000 COVID-19 tests arrived in Sana’a on a UNICEF-chartered plane today, to increase the COVID-19 testing capacity amid the rapid increase of cases in Yemen.

18th June 2020 - Half of the world’s children, or approximately 1 billion children each year are affected by physical, sexual or psychological violence, suffering injuries, disabilities and death, because countries have failed to follow established strategies to protect them.

Universal child benefits are critical in the fight against child poverty, yet nearly 9 in 10 countries worldwide do not provide universal child or family benefit schemes, according to a new report published today by the Overseas Development Institute and UNICEF.  

This is the first time ever that Maradona, Pelé and Ronaldinho will be playable from the start, in the same side, without the need for transfers.

15 June 2020 – Statement from Ted Chaiban, UNICEF Regional Director in the Middle East and North Africa and Dr. Ahmed Al-Mandhari, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean Region.

12 June 2020 – “In Yemen, humanitarian needs have never been more acute, or funding more constrained. “As of today, UNICEF’s US$479 million appeal to sustain essential basic services for children this year is just 38 per cent funded."