Press releases

ROME/NEW YORK, 28 April 2026 – The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Food Programme (WFP) and UNICEF today warned that a deepening hunger crisis in South Sudan is pushing 7.8 million people into high levels of acute food insecurity (IPC Phase 3 or above) between April and July 2026, according to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis.

KABUL/FLORENCE/NEW YORK, 28 April 2026 – Afghanistan risks losing up to 20,000 women teachers and 5,400 healthcare workers by 2030 as restrictions on girls’ education and women’s employment continue, according to a new UNICEF analysis.

LONDON, 28 April 2026 – From Monday 11 May, multi-platinum singer and Heart presenter, Olly Murs, will step away from the mic, into his sport kit, and out of his comfort zone as he takes on a gruelling 400km Soccer Aid for UNICEF challenge.  

PORT SUDAN/NEW YORK/GENEVA, 28 April 2026 – Twenty years after Darfur captured global attention as violence devastated communities and displaced millions in Sudan, children in the region are again trapped in a catastrophic crisis – but with less international focus and aid, UNICEF warned in a new Child Alert released today.

GENEVA/PORT SUDAN, 28 April 2028 – “Twenty years ago, Darfur shocked the world. An entire generation of children became victims or survivors of terrible atrocities.  Images of burned villages, death and mass displacement sparked global outrage and action. As always, children were at the sharpest end of the crisis.

DAKAR/NEW YORK, 26 April 2026 – “After a 14-day visit to the Central Sahel, I have witnessed firsthand a region rich in possibilities, yet continuously affected by insecurity, climate shocks, and socio-economic crises.

GENEVA/NEW YORK, 24 April 2026 – The Big Catch-Up (BCU), a historic multi-year, multi-country effort to address vaccination declines driven largely by the COVID-19 pandemic, has reached an estimated 18.3 million children aged 1 to 5 across 36 countries with more than 100 million doses of life-saving vaccines, helping to narrow critical immunity gaps, announced Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance (Gavi), WHO, and UNICEF at the start of World Immunization Week.

LONDON, 24 April 2026 – Acute food insecurity and malnutrition levels remain alarmingly high and deeply entrenched, with crises increasingly concentrated in a core group of countries, according to the Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC) 2026, released today by an international alliance.  

NEW YORK, 17 April 2026 – “UNICEF is outraged by the killing of two drivers of trucks contracted by UNICEF to provide clean water to families in the Gaza Strip.

PORT SUDAN/GENEVA, 14 April 2026 - "After three devastating years of war, children in Sudan continue to bear the heaviest toll, with drones responsible for nearly 80 per cent of all reported child killings and injuries.

NEW YORK/PORT SUDAN, 14 April 2026 – As the conflict in Sudan hits the three-year mark, children continue to pay the heaviest price. Between January and March this year, at least 160 children have been reportedly killed and 85 maimed across the country – a 50 per cent increase compared to the same period in 2025.

NEW YORK, 9 April 2026 – “The intensification of hostilities in Lebanon continues to exact a devastating and inhumane toll on children. In just minutes yesterday, as news of a regional ceasefire agreement briefly ignited hope across the country, deadly Israeli airstrikes struck across Lebanon, reportedly killing 33 children and injuring 153.

TEHRAN, 8 April 2026 - UNICEF welcomes the ceasefire as a critical step that offers hope to children and families in Iran who have endured immense suffering. Even as the skies fall silent and the strikes cease, the impact of violence on children will have long-lasting consequences and must not be overlooked.

NEW YORK, 7 April 2026 – “Children in Iran and across the region are exposed to physical harm and psychological distress, alongside attacks and rising threats to the essential infrastructure upon which their survival depends.

NEW YORK, 30 March 2026 – More than one month into the military escalation in the Middle East, conflict continues to exact a devastating toll on children across the region. More than 340 children have reportedly been killed and thousands injured.

GENEVA/NEW YORK, 18 March 2026 – An estimated 4.9 million children died before their fifth birthday in 2024, including 2.3 million newborns, according to new estimates released today. Most of these deaths are preventable with proven, low-cost interventions and access to quality health care.

AMMAN, 17 March 2026 – “Violence has again claimed the lives of Palestinian children in the West Bank. On 14 March, two siblings, aged 5 and 7, were shot and killed by Israeli forces in the town of Tammun in the West Bank alongside their parents inside their car.

LONDON, 17 March 2025 – UNICEF UK has released its latest pay gap report, with the charity reporting a reduction in pay gaps across gender, ethnicity, disability and LGBTQIA+. For the first time, the report also looks at data on socio-economic background.

PORT SUDAN, 12 March 2025 – Reported drone attacks struck a secondary school and a primary healthcare centre in Shukairi village in White Nile State, Sudan, yesterday morning. At least eight students, four of them under the age of 18, and a health worker were killed. Many more were injured, and the schools in the locality have been closed as a result.

NEW YORK, 11 March 2026 – “Ten days into the intensifying conflict in the Middle East, the situation is becoming catastrophic for millions of children across the region. Since 28 February, more than 1,100 children have been reported injured or killed in the violence. This includes 200 children reportedly killed in Iran, 91 in Lebanon, four in Israel and one in Kuwait. These numbers will likely climb as the violence intensifies and spreads.