Press releases

17 August 2020 – Unicef UK has today launched its first ever domestic emergency response programme to support children in the UK during the coronavirus pandemic.

13 August 2020 – As schools worldwide struggle with reopening, the latest data from the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) reveals that 43 per cent of schools around the world lacked access to basic handwashing with soap and water in 2019 – a key condition for schools to be able to operate safely in the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic.

11 August 2020 – Polio immunization campaigns have resumed in Afghanistan and Pakistan – the last two polio-endemic countries in the world – months after Coronavirus left 50 million children without their polio vaccine.

11 August 2020 - Statement from Palais des Nations Press Briefing on the situation and response in Beirut.

5 August 2020 - Statement from UNICEF in response to Beirut explosions.

Across Central America and the Caribbean, more than 70 million children are directly or indirectly affected by the Coronavirus pandemic. Many of those children living in coastal areas of Central America and the Caribbean could face the additional threat of catastrophic storms as the 2020 hurricane season moves into a more active phase, UNICEF warned today. Displacement, infrastructure damage and service interruption caused by storms, particularly in coastal areas, could leave children and families more vulnerable to the disease and its impacts.

An additional 6.7 million children under the age of five could suffer from wasting – and therefore become dangerously undernourished – in 2020 as a result of the socio-economic impact of the Coronavirus pandemic, UNICEF warned today.

23 July 2020 – An estimated 3 million children are in need of assistance due to the combined impact of floods, the locust invasion and the coronavirus pandemic.

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.