Press releases

3 April 2019–  One in four health care facilities around the world lacks basic water services, impacting over 2 billion people, according to a new report by the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (JMP).

2 April 2019 – Nearly 900,000 doses of the cholera vaccine, procured by UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO), arrived in Beira, Mozambique, on Tuesday afternoon and the vaccination campaign will begin imminently.

28 March 2019 – “Over the past few days - once again - children in the State of Palestine and Israel have experienced unjustifiable stress and been exposed to violence as a result of an escalation in the conflict. We support calls for an urgent de-escalation. 

27 March 2019 – An estimated 3 million people, more than half of whom are children, urgently need humanitarian assistance across Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe in the aftermath of Cyclone Idai – the worst disaster to hit southern Africa in at least two decades.

27 March 2019 – Following heavy rains and catastrophic floods in the south of Malawi, the UK Department for International Development (DFID) has provided £3.4 million to fund UNICEF, the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Red Cross humanitarian response for people displaced by the disaster.

27 March 2019 – The Government of the United Kingdom, through the Department for International Development (DFID), committed another 4 million UK pounds to support UNICEF’s lifesaving interventions to scale up the treatment of severe acute malnutrition in Chad.

26 March 2019- “In Yemen, since the beginning of the year till 17th March, nearly 109,000 cases of severe Acute Watery Diarrhea and suspected cholera were reported with 190 total associated deaths since January. Nearly one third of the reported cases are children under the age of five years old. This comes two years since Yemen witnessed the world-largest outbreak when more than 1 million cases were reported. 

26 March 2019 – One week after Cyclone Idai devastated parts of Mozambique, the water supply system is working again in the hard-hit city of Beira – a life-saving development for children and families still reeling from the storm.

26 March 2019 – Tens of thousands of school children in some of South Sudan’s most food insecure areas will benefit from a new European Union (EU) funded education in emergencies programme launched today in Aweil.

24 March 2019 – “An attack on a village in Bankass in Mopti, central Mali, has reportedly killed more than 130 people. UNICEF is deeply saddened and outraged that children are among the casualties. 

23 March 2019 – We are in a race against time to help and protect children in the disaster-ravaged areas of Mozambique, UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore said at the end of a visit to Beira, one of the areas worst affected by Cyclone Adai. 

22 March 2019 – Children under the age of 15 living in countries affected by protracted conflict are, on average, almost three times more likely to die from diarrhoeal diseases caused by a lack of safe water, sanitation and hygiene than by direct violence, UNICEF said in a new report today.

21 March 2019 - With the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) facing one of the largest and most complex humanitarian crises in the world, UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore and Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock called today for urgent and sustained funding for the Government-led response to meet the needs of children, families and vulnerable communities including people with disabilities.

20 March 2019 - As families in the region prepare to celebrate Mother’s Day tomorrow, another mother in Syria today is grieving the loss of her child. UNICEF received reports that a five-year old child was killed while on a school bus on his way home.

19 March 2019 – UNICEF supplies have begun arriving in areas affected by heavy rains and floods in southern Malawi, bringing a measure of relief to families living in evacuation centres.

17 March 2019 – Almost 850,000 people – around half of whom are estimated to be children – have been affected by severe flooding in Malawi and Mozambique, with the numbers set to rise as Cyclone Idai moves west and the impact of the cyclone becomes clearer, UNICEF warned today.

16th March 2019 - Today, Unicef UK held rallies in Birmingham, London and Manchester to show how strongly local children, families and campaigners feel about the urgent issue of toxic air in the city.

15 March 2019 – During the night to Friday the intense tropical Cyclone Idai has made landfall in Mozambique’s Sofala region close to the city of Beira, causing severe damage with its strong winds and severe flooding.

14 March 2019- UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa Geert Cappelaere’s remarks at the “Supporting the future of Syria and the Region” conference

13 March 2019 – “The most recent attack in Hajjah, north of Hudaydah, on 9 March, took yet another devastating toll on the children of Yemen: 12 were killed while at home and another 14 injured.