Millions of children are dying in a devastating war
They are under attack from bombs and bullets. From drought and poverty. From hunger, thirst and sickness.
It is a war that crosses borders, killing 4.8 million children every year. That’s the equivalent of one child dying every seven seconds.
But there is something you can do to help right now.
With your support, UNICEF teams on the ground in crises across the globe can provide life-saving food, safe water and urgently needed medicine. We can reach children like two-year-old Mourshid, pictured above. After fleeing a terrifying war, Mourshid was critically ill. But because of supporters like you, UNICEF could provide the care that saved his life.
Through your action UNICEF can help save millions of other children on the frontlines. But we need your help right now. Please, rush your support to children today.
Watch the crisis explained by UNICEF ambassador Donncha O'Callaghan
Help feed starving children today with one simple step
The war on children is not just fought with weapons; it is underpinned by the silent, immediate threat of severe hunger.
Globally, 1 in 5 deaths of children under five is linked to severe acute malnutrition. A child weakened by hunger is up to 11 times more likely to die from common illnesses like diarrhea or pneumonia. What should be treatable becomes deadly when a child’s body has no strength left to fight.
This crisis is urgent. And time is something these children do not have.
But there is a simple solution you can help provide right now.
In the field, UNICEF health workers use a simple color-coded measuring tape around a child’s arm. When the indicator falls into the red zone, that child is critically close to death.
The moment a child is diagnosed, treatment must begin immediately. Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food – a life-saving, nutrient-rich paste – can pull a child back from the brink of death in just weeks. But every hour without it increases the risk.
UNICEF supplies nearly 80% of the world’s therapeutic food, and our emergency supplies depend entirely on you. Please, help us provide it now. Every second counts.
Saving a child from malnutrition does more than just feed them today – it gives them the physical strength to survive disease, drought, and the horrors of war. You can help give them a chance to grow, to thrive, and to build a life filled with hope.
Please, make your life-saving donation now, before it’s too late.
Donate now
Farhan is alive today thanks to UNICEF donors.
The war on children is not inevitable – you can help stop it
Two-year-old Farhan was moments from death from malnutrition. His arms were so thin they could break. His little legs could barely support his fragile body.
But Farhan is alive today because his grandmother Leyla refused to give up, and because UNICEF supporters like you made help possible.
Leyla had already lost everything to drought and war in Somalia. With nothing left to sell but her final bag of maize, she made an impossible choice – trading it for transport to reach a UNICEF-run health centre.
When they arrived, Farhan was rushed straight into emergency care.
“They gave him a blood transfusion,” says Leyla. “But they couldn’t find veins in his hands, so they used the veins in his head.”
Farhan survived deadly hunger. He survived war. He survived because people like you stood with him when he needed it most.
But millions of other children just like Fahran are still fighting a relentless war. For them, time is running out.
Some are trapped in conflict zones. Others face the silent killers of unsafe water, disease, and crushing poverty. There are at immediate risk of painful illness and death.
We must rush life saving aid to them now before it’s too late.
You can help UNICEF reach these children today. Please, there isn’t a second to lose.
Donate nowPlease help a child to survive
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€ 0With €75 you can help supply enough clean drinking water to 15 families.
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€ 0With €100 you can help provide enough essential medicine to treat 12 sick and injured children.
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€ 0With €150 you can help supply emergency therapeutic food to 15 severely acutely malnourished children.
UNICEF can reach these children – but not alone.
You can help UNICEF bring children back from the brink of death.
What puts children at risk and how you can help
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Malnutrition
Over one million children die every year from severe acute malnutrition.
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Life-saving food
Each year UNICF treats over 9 million children for severe acute malnutrition, including provide life-saving RUTF food.
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Bombs, bullets and illness
Limited access to quality primary health care, is a leading cause of 7,000 newborn deaths every single day.
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Essential medicine
UNICEF supports health centres where 1 in 4 babies worldwide are born, and delivers millions of vaccines to children every year.
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Deadly disease
Every day, more than 1,000 children under five die from diseases linked to unsafe water and poor sanitation.
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Clean drinking water
UNICEF provides safe water to more than 33 million people annually, and basic hygiene services to over 21 million.
The hard facts: the number of children under five killed each year by preventable causes
Malnutrition: kills 2.2 million children every year.
Solution: UNICEF community nutrition volunteers like Fatima are trained to spot severely malnourished children and ensure they reach emergency help quickly. Donations like yours help provide Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food that can restore a child to full health in 6-8 weeks.
Preventable disease: kills over 1.5 million children every year.
Solution: UNICEF community health workers like Eliza deliver desperately-needed medicines and treatment to children in their own homes. Our teams urgently need more medicines, supplies, and bicycles to reach children and families with life-saving care, which you can help provide.
Dirty water: kills 365,000 children every year.
Solution: UNICEF water engineers like Dar-Shujaa work with local communities to provide long-term solutions. Donations like yours help equip teams with pipes, tanks and equipment to install permanent clean water points and keep children safe.
Other ways to donate
You can make a donation by phone by calling 01 878 3000, from Monday to Friday between 9:00 – 5:30pm.
You can send your donation by post to Freepost; UNICEF Ireland, 33 Lower Ormond Quay, Dublin D01 R283.
In the unlikely event that the funds raised exceed UNICEF’s funding requirements for this appeal, your donation will be directed to where the need is greatest.