For over 60 years, UNICEF has been providing life-saving assistance to children caught in humanitarian crises.
UNICEF Is There – Before, During and After a Crisis
War and natural disaster devastate children’s lives. They threaten children’s health and separate children from their parents. UNICEF is on the ground during an emergency to help children survive. We provide food, water, shelter, and health care. We help reunite parents with their children when they've been separated, and we make sure that children who are orphaned receive care and protection.
UNICEF's Lifesaving Influence and Innovation in Action
We pioneered the "Days of Tranquility," a cease-fire during which hostile forces put down their weapons so UNICEF can vaccinate the region’s children. In Sudan in 2005, we vaccinated over 5 million children against polio, and in Afghanistan and Pakistan in 2001 we vaccinated more than 35 million children – all during times of war.
We insist that, even during an emergency, children attend school and have a safe place to play and learn. Our School-in-a-Box kit, a portable classroom developed by UNICEF after the Rwandan genocide, allows children almost anywhere to attend class. Going back to school is a huge step towards restoring a child’s shattered life to normalcy.
Together with other relief agencies, we provide much-needed psycho-social support for traumatized children, help child soldiers, and give special attention to women and girls in crisis situations.
Time Is of the Essence
Because UNICEF is already on the ground in so many places, our field workers are often the first on the scene to relieve the suffering of children and families. And because UNICEF stays when others may leave, we help with long-term aid to recovery and restore the sense of an ordinary life to a child who survived a disaster.