What do we do?
We work to build a better world for every child
Children are at the heart of everything we do
For over 75 years, we’ve ensured more of the world’s children are vaccinated, educated, and protected than any other organisation.
We run the largest emergency response on Earth, building long-term resilience among the most vulnerable children.
And we influence laws and policies to create lasting change for children.
Discover our work
We stand by children through emergencies
Right now, we are supporting millions of children in conflicts and disasters around the world.
Such as six year old Inga and her family who fled their home in Kyiv after the first attacks to nearby villages. In Ukraine our medical teams are looking after the physical and mental health of Inga and children like her.
We’re reaching children in Yemen with life-saving therapeutic food, health care and clean water.
And in countries such as Pakistan, we’re providing water, hygiene kits and urgent treatment for malnourished children.
Learn more about how we help keep children safe in an emergency.
Every day I come here and spend my free time in the kindergarten with other children and today I have an hour of fairy tale therapy.
Inga, 6, at our Blue Dot Centre in Romania.
We ensure children have access to clean water and sanitation
Millions of kids miss out on their education because they are spending hours every day collecting water. In the last four years we’ve helped 69.9 million people access safe water and sanitation around the world.
In Malawi, we support children like 14-year-old Steven, who had to walk almost two kilometers from his house to collect water from a murky well and was often too sick or tired to go to school.
A solar powered tap installed by UNICEF in 2021, allows 14-year-old Steven and his friends to safely collect water near their home.
Learn more about our clean water and sanitation work.
I felt relieved. Now I could go to school early and concentrate on the lessons instead.
Steven, 14, using the UNICEF installed solar powered tap in Malawi.
We protect children with vaccines
Since 1980, we have helped quadruple immunisation rates for children across the world, saving up to 3 million children’s lives a year.
More children are protected than ever before, but there is still more that needs to be done.
As in the case of 2-year-old Anirlan who lives in the far North of Mongolia with her mother, Otgonbayar. The life-saving vaccines Anirlan needs are hundreds of miles away. We help reach half the world’s children like Anirlan with life-saving vaccines every year, to protect them from dangerous diseases like whooping cough, measles and polio.
Learn more about our vaccination work.
I want my daughter to be vaccinated to keep her healthy and happy.
Otgonbayar, infant Anirlan's mother.
We work tirelessly to help every child have a good education
Every child has the right to an education. We work with governments, communities and parents to enable every child to access a quality education. By June 2022 we had helped to make sure 28 million children could keep learning.
When the Nyiragongo volcano erupted in May 2021, we set up two emergency tents to allow students like Dorcas to resume their education and eventually new classrooms were built to allow students to study in good conditions.
Learn more about our education work.
I'm happy because I'm going to finish my primary education soon and go on to secondary school to be a boat captain.
Dorcas, 10, in her UNICEF supported school.
How do I learn more about UNICEF?
UNICEF was created in 1946 to help protect children after World War II and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is the basis of all of our work. Today we’re still helping children in some of the world’s most dangerous places.
Children are at the heart of our work. They are the heart of UNICEF.
