What we’ve achieved for children in East Asia and the Pacific
Our work has always been powered by hope
UNICEF was born out of the ashes of World War II. We’re no strangers to crises.
Since then, through some of the world’s most trying moments — from natural disasters to the COVID-19 pandemic — we’ve never wavered from our mission: To reach every child in need, protect children’s rights and help every child thrive.
Standing side by side with children since 1948
UNICEF’s very first regional office opened in Asia in 1948. Since then, our work has always been driven by hope.
From the mountains of Mongolia to the reefs of Tonga, the valleys of Myanmar to the scattered isles of the Philippines, millions of children are alive today thanks to our work with partners.
Innovating. Collaborating. Never giving up.
Across 27 countries and territories, we’ve reached places no one else could and made what once seemed impossible, possible.
Here’s just some of the ways we’ve changed children’s lives.
1. More children than ever are living to see their fifth birthday
Left to Right: A health worker cares for a premature baby in rural Cambodia. Cornellia (3 months) is cradled by mum, Benalyn, as she gets her first vaccines in remote Papua New Guinea. UNICEF joins local efforts to shield children from tuberculosis, Philippines, 1952.
We’ve helped children and their mothers get the healthcare they need, when they need it.
As the world’s largest vaccine distributor, we’ve defied distance, disaster, and danger to deliver life-saving vaccines to children to shield them from deadly diseases.
The result? Vaccination rates have skyrocketed, and child deaths have plummeted.
Between 1980 and 2022, the number of children vaccinated against polio increased from 5% to 86%, DTP from 6% to 87%, measles from 4% to 85% and BCG from 17% to 93%.
Since 1990, the number of deaths of children under 5 has dropped by nearly 75%.
Millions of children are celebrating birthdays, taking first steps, and growing up because of this work.
Stories of hope
2. We’ve helped families on the frontlines of disasters survive and rebuild their lives
Left to Right: 7 months after the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, Khairuddin (15) is reunited with his mother at a UNICEF field office in Indonesia. Emergency supplies on the way to Laputta Township, Myanmar in 2008, in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis. A little girl blows bubbles outside a safe place for children after being evacuated from her home in the Philippines after Super Typhoon Haiyan in 2014.
We’ve stayed and delivered for families during the biggest disasters to hit the region. Through typhoons, floods, cyclones, earthquakes and tsunamis. When homes have been swept away and schools reduced to ruins, UNICEF has been the first to reach families with life-saving support.
When the Indian Ocean Tsunami struck in 2004, we delivered lifelines: clean water, lifesaving medical care, nourishing food, and safe spaces for children, reunited families, and shielded the most vulnerable from harm.
In 2008, just 24 hours after Cyclone Nargis devastated Myanmar, we were there, with emergency shelter, vital healthcare, and cash assistance to help the hardest-hit families begin to rebuild.
And in 2013, when Super Typhoon Haiyan tore through the Philippines, displacing millions and flattening entire communities, we responded with 100 tons of critical supplies. From essential medicines to learning kits for children and trained teams to help them heal.
And with climate driven disasters striking harder and more often, we've never been needed more. But we’ve never been more prepared to react.
Our teams are already on the ground across the region, equipped with the tools, training, and heart to act immediately and get children the help they direly need, as soon as humanly possible.
Over the last 4 years alone, we’ve responded to 25 major emergencies across the region, helped 27 million children with urgent aid and created safe spaces where over 180,000 children could keep learning, even in the darkest moments. Because recovery isn’t just about rebuilding structures, it’s about rebuilding lives.
Stories of hope
3. We’ve fought to get millions more people safe drinking water and sanitation
Left to Right: Thailand, 2005: Three girls enjoy a new water point, built in their school by UNICEF, after the tsunami devastated their village. Clean hands, bright smiles: Kim and Tin, both 6, use new water facilities, supported by UNICEF, at their school in rural Cambodia, 2024.
Safe drinking water and sanitation have transformed health, dignity, and daily life for millions of people and protected children against life-threatening illnesses.
In 2000, only 19% of people in East Asia and the Pacific had toilets that safely got rid of waste, that they didn’t share with other families. In 2022, 61% did.
And toilets have improved in schools too! Between 2015 and 2023 alone, the percentage of schools with toilets that are clean, private, safe to use, and separate for boys and girls climbed from 72% to 92%.
Stories of hope
4. The number of children suffering from stunted growth and development has more than halved
Left to Right: Little Domino drinks his daily milk from UNICEF — hope for malnourished villages in the Philippines, 1949. Kaikai (2) enjoys a nutritious lunch in China. Mia (8) has her height measured as part of UNICEF's fight to improve nutrition for undocumented children in Malaysia.
To grow-up healthy, children need the right nutrition at every stage of childhood. We’ve helped pregnant women stay nourished, championed breastfeeding and quality first foods, provided vitamin supplements, healthy foods in schools, and urgent treatment for severely malnourished children.
And the results are powerful: stunting in the region has more than halved over the last two decades, plunging from 39 million children to 19 million, giving more children the chance to grow, thrive, and reach their full potential.
Our work has also led to 92.5% of salt in the region being fortified with iodine, essential for children’s brain development. Over 25 years, this simple shift has generated an estimated US$11.8 billion in economic gains.
Stories of hope
5. We’ve worked tirelessly to protect children from violence, neglect, exploitation and child marriage
![In 1980 in Kampuchea [now Cambodia], a boy in a camp for people displaced by civil conflict shows one of his drawings, which reflects some of the trauma he has experienced. Children who have been uprooted by man-made or natural disasters often bear serious psychological scars.](/eap/sites/unicef.org.eap/files/styles/mc_two_hrz_desktop/public/UNI41947.webp?itok=YBsbXE3U)
Left to right: Kampuchea (now Cambodia), 1980: A boy displaced by conflict shares his story through art. Viet Nam 2015, with support from his case manager and the Youth Union, Khuong turned his life around — trading petty trouble for vocational training, a steady job, and a hopeful future.
For too many children, home isn’t safe, school isn’t a refuge, and the online world is full of threats. Abuse, trafficking, bullying, and sexual exploitation leave deep, lasting scars on a child’s body and mind. And every year, millions of girls lose their childhoods and futures to early marriage.
UNICEF has helped governments across the region strengthen laws, social services, and justice systems and build the skills of frontline social workers, to protect children wherever they are. Following advocacy from UNICEF and partners, Thailand banned corporal punishment in all settings, including at home and in every setting that provides care to children, through a landmark legal amendment.
We’ve also run positive parenting programs to break cycles of abuse. Because quick fixes don’t protect children, strong systems do.
Over the last 3 years alone, more than 320,000 children who’ve suffered unimaginable harm from violence, exploitation, abuse and neglect have found hope and healing with our help.
Stories of hope
6. More children are in and finishing school
Left to Right: Malaysia 1968, children immersed in the magic of learning. Teenage girls in Thailand learn STEM at school. Aung Khin and Kham Li, both 7, hug their new backpacks as they head back to school during the COVID-19 pandemic in Myanmar.
When children gain knowledge, they gain power: to stay healthy, escape poverty, and fuel progress.
And hope is rising in our classrooms. Since 1994, lower secondary school completion in the region has jumped from 58% to 88%. Millions more children are learning.
In the last 5 years alone, we’ve helped 47 million children of all ages across the region get the education they deserve by breaking barriers to learning. We’ve trained teachers, improved schools, providing learning materials, helped children learn through digital technology and set up safe classrooms during emergencies to help children keep learning.
Children who faced the biggest challenges — poverty, disability, and distance — are now getting the education they would have missed out on, opening doors to a better future.
Stories of hope
7. We’ve helped countries give the poorest children a fairer chance
Left to Right: 1946, Hengyang, China: A child gives his name to a clerk at a shelter for famine refugees. Wenfeng (18 months) is cared for by his grandma in rural China as his parents work in the city; she’s learning skills to help him thrive, thanks to new services launched by UNICEF and the Government. Sai Wai has faced seizures since being a baby; UNICEF’s support helps his family in Myanmar cope with medical bills.
We’ve helped governments set up systems and safety nets to help the poorest children in the region, backed by sustainable financing, so support is built to last.
In 2015, based on the research and evidence, UNICEF supported the Royal Thai Government to introduce the Child Support Grant for the poorest families. Ten years later, the grant has significantly improved children's welfare and services by helping lift children under 6 and their families out of poverty, reducing acute malnutrition in children and empowering new mothers to stay at home longer before returning to work.
It’s a powerful example of resource leveraging: UNICEF’s initial $2.6 million investment helped mobilize $5.575 million in public funding from the Royal Thai Government, helping spark a bigger movement. This public funding has already changed the lives of 4 million children.
In China, our research and expert guidance spurred huge policy change for families. Nationwide child grants, better maternity insurance, and more affordable childcare have been introduced. These changes are helping families, especially mothers, spend more quality time with their children in their critical early years.
And in one of the most disaster-prone regions in the world, we’ve been on hand to help get cash support to families hit by disaster. When Typhoon Yagi, the most powerful storm to strike Viet Nam in 70 years, submerged over 122,00 homes in floodwater, we got emergency cash support directly into the hands of nearly 4,000 people hit hardest, helping them survive and hold onto hope.
Stories of hope
8. We’ve sounded the alarm on unseen harms to children
Left to Right: Celebrating World Children's Day in Malaysia in 1965, championing every child’s right to be heard, safe, and educated. Bank shelters at home during a record-breaking heatwave in Thailand, May 2024. Children at kindergarten in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia wear masks to protect them from toxic winter smog.
We’ve helped the world learn about dangers to children’s health, happiness and futures — from air pollution to sugar-laced baby foods, unethical formula-milk marketing and the impacts of climate change. And we’ve supported children and youth to raise their voices on the issues that matter to them.
Together, with our partners, we’ve brought attention to issues and proposed solutions for governments, decision-makers, businesses and parents to make real change for children at scale.
Thanks to our powerful advocacy, 24 countries in the region put laws in place to ban manipulative formula-milk marketing and protect breastfeeding. Millions of mothers now have more freedom to choose how to feed their babies, guided by facts, not untruthful advertising.
Standing up for children’s rights
We’re so proud of everything we've achieved for children, since starting work in Asia eight decades ago. But since then, the world has changed — and so have the challenges children face.
One truth remains: we will never stop fighting for children.
No matter the crisis, no matter the challenge, we’ll be there. Standing beside children and their families, delivering hope, protection, and the chance at a better tomorrow.
With every hand that joins ours, with every voice that rises in solidarity, we can protect more futures and ensure that no child is left behind. No matter what tomorrow brings.