South Asia Region Appeal

In South Asia, conflict and economic shocks are compounded by climate-induced disasters and health emergencies, disproportionately affecting the region’s 634 million children – the highest number of children in any region worldwide. The complex crises undermine the realization of children's rights to health, nutrition, education, protection and access to safe water and sanitation. 

Pakistan continues to face severe humanitarian challenges, including climate-induced disasters and displacement. Even as return movements accelerate, the country continues to host more than 1 million registered Afghan refugees, adding pressure on limited resources. Afghanistan faces one of the world’s most urgent humanitarian crises, with more than 2.6 million Afghans returning from the Islamic Republic of Iran and Pakistan since early 2025, driving housing shortages and food insecurity and straining health and education systems. Meanwhile, Bangladesh, with a complex cross-border dynamic with Myanmar, hosts approximately 1.2 million Rohingya refugees in congested camps that are vulnerable to flooding, landslides, fires and disease outbreaks. 

Climate-induced disasters are escalating across South Asia, compounding people's vulnerabilities. Between 2016 and 2022, an estimated 15.6 million children were displaced by weather-related disasters in South Asia: on average, more than 6,100 children every day. Over 1.8 million people were affected by Cyclone Ditwah, which struck Sri Lanka on 28 November 2025, leaving 1.1 million without access to clean water and health services, disrupting education for around 600,000 children, leading to disruption of protection networks, elevating psychological distress and increasing risks of abuse and family separation for over 400,000 children. Severe floods in India, Nepal and Pakistan in 2025 killed thousands and displaced millions, destroying schools, health facilities and farmland. Maldives faces existential threats from rising sea levels, with most of its land barely a meter above sea level. Several countries, including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal and Pakistan, are prone to significant earthquake risk, adding to the region’s complex emergency profile.

Climate shocks such as floods and droughts heighten disease risks, disrupt food systems and increase malnutrition. Access to education is frequently interrupted by disasters and displacement, and protection risks –including gender-based violence, child labour, and mental health challenges – are exacerbated in crisis settings. 

Humanitarian crises are projected to affect 29.3 million people, including 12.2 million children, in Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Across the region, life-saving needs persist amid multiple, simultaneous emergencies with cross-border impacts.

Guided by the Core Commitments for Children in Humanitarian Action, and in line with the Humanitarian Reset, UNICEF will focus on providing live-saving support in South Asia through integrated programming in child protection, education, health, nutrition, WASH and shock-responsive social protection. UNICEF is strengthening national systems and investing in local capacities to ensure sustainable, equitable and community-driven humanitarian action in resposne to new, ongoing and protracted emergencies in the region. In 2026, UNICEF aims to support humanitarian assistance for the most vulnerable 4.7 million people, including 2.7 million children, in Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. 

Country offices respond in support of nationally-led efforts, with the Regional Office for South Asia providing technical assistance, surge deployments and cross-border, regional and multisectoral coordination support. This will ensure principled, timely and child-centred humanitarian action. Humanitarian response in the region will integrate accountability to affected populations, gender equality and disability inclusion to ensure that the voices and needs of the most marginalized children are central to decision-making and service delivery. 

In response to increasingly frequent and severe climate-related hazards, UNICEF will scale up investments in preparedness and anticipatory action. Country offices are strengthening early warning systems and enhancing capacity of local partners to deliver rapid, life-saving, child-focused responses relying on strategically pre-positioned supplies. In Pakistan, pre-positioned nutrition and health supplies enabled immediate treatment for malnourished children and helped reach people with essential medicine during floods in 2025, while school preparedness plans reduced education disruption for thousands of children. This demonstrates that anticipatory action not only enables timely interventions ahead of predicted hazards but also reduces humanitarian needs and protects development gains. The Regional Office will continue to promote knowledge exchange and capacity building with national disaster management authorities and youth platforms to further strengthen their capacity for child-sensitive risk analysis, preparedness and response. 

Localization remains central. UNICEF focuses on empowering national and subnational actors to lead preparedness, response and recovery efforts. UNICEF will embed climate adaptation and disaster risk reduction throughout its humanitarian and development programming.