Every child, every day | UNICEF Ireland

UNICEF works to protect the rights of every child, everywhere – in emergencies and after the headlines have moved on.

UNICEF ensures every child is…

Become a UNICEF supporter today – because children need your help.

Why UNICEF?

Every day UNICEF delivers life-changing impacts for children. We reach millions – including those in the hardest-to-reach places – with lifesaving aid, education, and protection.

We stretch every Euro for maximum impact, working efficiently with global partners. In just one year we distributed 75-80% of ready-to-use therapeutic food – a life-saving sachet of food that saves millions of children’s lives each year.

UNICEF works on the toughest problems, delivering 6.2 million doses of the world’s first malaria vaccine. As the largest global buyer of vaccines, we delivered 2.79 billion doses and reach 45% of the world’s young children.

No other organisation vaccinates, educates, and protects more children or has done more to influence laws that safeguard them. We are trusted across the world to work for every child, in every circumstance – before, during and after emergencies.

UNICEF continues to be there for children long after an emergency has left the news. Our impact lasts a lifetime.

The regular supporters at the heart of our work

The foundation of UNICEF’s work are the millions of individuals who take the time to donate. Together, they enable everything: from the aid trucks carrying food to save starving children in an emergency to the long-term programmes and infrastructure work that help generations of children over decades.

Our backers who spread their support out across the year – giving monthly amounts – have the biggest, most consistent impact.

They ensure that every child in need is reached, no matter where they are. Thanks to them, UNICEF has the power to be ready to jump in when children need us, and to stay with them for as long as it takes.

Find out more

Children deserve long-term solutions to the crises they face. That’s why UNICEF gives them the ongoing, lasting help they need to heal and recover.

Making a lasting change

UNICEF’s life-saving work in pictures

no images were found

Each year, UNICEF helps over 35 million people access safe water – that’s an average of 96,000 per day.

For 79 years, in over 190 countries, UNICEF has been there for children – wherever and whenever they need us. In war zones, disaster areas, and the world’s toughest places, we act fast to save lives. But we don’t stop when the crisis fades.

Children deserve more than short-term aid. They need stability, education, healthcare, and protection. That’s why UNICEF stays for the long-term, rebuilding schools, providing vaccinations and water infrastructure, and helping families recover. With expert staff and one of the largest humanitarian aid supply networks in the world, we make sure support reaches children consistently, not just in emergencies.

Thanks to our monthly donors, who provide reliable and consistent support, we can plan ahead, respond immediately, and create lasting change. Trust in UNICEF means trust in a future where no child is left behind. We get things done – and we won’t stop until every child is safe and healthy.

A lifetime of safe water.

In Kamana village, Afghanistan, clean water was scarce, and children like 11-year-old Asiya, pictured above, had to rely on unsafe water from a distant river.

But with UNICEF’s support, a solar-powered water system was installed in 2024, bringing safe water directly to the community.

This sustainable solution eliminated the need for donkeys to carry water, empowering the community to maintain the system with local involvement.

UNICEF also trains locals like Abdul, a community leader, to manage and repair the system, ensuring long-term sustainability. Over 633,000 people have benefiting from 157 similar, climate-friendly systems installed by UNICEF across Afghanistan in 2024, providing a reliable source of water for generations to come.

Eradicating deadly diseases.

UNICEF helps vaccinate over 400 million children globally against polio every year. By reaching even those children who live in remote and conflict-affected areas, we have helped almost eradicate the deadly viral disease that was once the leading cause of paralysis among children. Since 1988, the number of children affected by polio has reduced by 99 per cent.

And our work will not stop. For over three years in Ukraine, since the full-scale war began in 2022, UNICEF has strengthened cold-chain infrastructure to ensure children continue receiving polio vaccinations.

And in Gaza, after a child was paralysed by polio in 2024 – the first confirmed case of the deadly disease there in 25 years – we launched a massive vaccination campaign, pictured above. UNICEF was able to help coordinate the huge logistical challenge of such a project amid a deadly war, and successfully reached over 500,000 children with vaccinations.