News and stories

NAIROBI, 12 October 2026 –, “UNICEF is deeply saddened by the deaths of at least 139 people, including 15 children, after a migrant boat capsized off the coast of Djibouti late last week. “The vessel was carrying just over 300 migrants, and several people remain missing.  “Our thoughts and condolences are with the survivors and families who have lost loved ones. “This…

NEW YORK, 6 October 2026 –,  The 2026-2027 El Niño – a recurring climate pattern that warms parts of the Pacific Ocean and disrupts weather systems worldwide – is forecasted to become one of the strongest on record. Unusually wet and dry conditions are expected to increase the likelihood of extreme weather events, including heavy flooding and severe droughts, threatening the…, Key facts about climate and El Niño: , More than 347 million children in nearly 100 countries and territories are expected to experience unusually wet or dry conditions between October and December 2026 due to El Niño, increasing the risk of extreme floods and droughts with potentially devastating consequences, according to latest UNICEF data.  The largest numbers of children likely to…, Notes for editors: , The figures in this analysis estimate the number of children living in areas where precipitation between October and December 2026 is forecast to be unusually dry or unusually wet because of El Niño, with a 70 per cent probability of the unusual conditions occurring. The estimates combine the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts' (…

NAIROBI, 1 October 2026 –, “UNICEF is deeply concerned by the escalation of hostilities in northern Ethiopia and the impact on children and their families. “UNICEF is aware of reports of children being injured or killed, and residential areas and public facilities damaged.   “UNICEF urges all parties to exercise restraint, protect children from harm and safeguard civilian…

Nairobi, 21 September 2026, - Today marks the International Day of Peace with the theme, ‘Invest in Peace - For Everyone, Everywhere, Every Day.’ On this day, the African Council of Religious Leaders – Religions for Peace and UNICEF come together with a special call for peace for children living in Sudan. More than three years on, the war in Sudan continues unabated, and…,  , what peace could mean for children in Sudan.   Peace means upholding every child’s right to a dignified future.  Peace brings stability. Peace gives children the chance to learn, , , recover, rebuild their lives and reach their full potential.  Urgent action is needed to end the suffering of children. We call on all parties to the conflict to agree to an immediate ceasefire, enable safe and unimpeded humanitarian access, and take all possible measures to protect children from harm. Without a lasting resolution, the situation…

Brazzaville -, Following rigorous technical assessments, five African countries have successfully stopped the spread of polio, marking an important milestone in efforts to protect children from this virus and advance towards eradication. Teams from the Independent Outbreak Response Assessment (OBRA) conducted separate assessments between January and June 2026,…,  , In the Republic of the Congo, authorities strengthened surveillance and implemented multiple high-quality vaccination campaigns to rapidly interrupt transmission following virus detections. Their last detection was reported in December 2023, with subsequent efforts focused on maintaining disease surveillance sensitivity and closing immunity gaps…, Note to editors, Polio is a highly infectious disease that can cause irreversible paralysis. There is no cure, but it can be prevented through safe and effective vaccination. Outbreak closure is a country-specific technical determination based on evidence demonstrating that transmission associated with a particular outbreak has been interrupted. The closure…

Geneva/Nairobi, 30 June 2026 -, The Committee on the Rights of the Child and UNICEF express their deep concern regarding the plight of migrant children in South Africa and the challenges they face while moving across the African continent. As enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, every child has the…

NAIROBI, 29 June 2026, – A new evaluation of the Regional Programme on Water and Sanitation for Refugees, Internally Displaced Persons and Host Communities in East Africa (R-WASH) shows progress in improving water services for displacement-affected communities across Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan. Implemented jointly by UNICEF and UNHCR with support from the German…

Anurita Bains is UNICEF Associate Director for HIV and Health. She has championed health equity and gender equality in the HIV response for over 25 years, with a focus on sub-Saharan Africa. For over four decades, the global AIDS response has been powered by grief, rage, courage, and determination. Families buried loved ones long before their time…, Then came the shock, In 2025, abrupt funding cuts undermined the very systems that made this progress possible. Prevention efforts stalled. Pharmacies ran out of essential medicines. Health workers were laid off. Systems that had taken decades to build began to unravel in a matter of months. Community activists experienced the fallout firsthand: Florence Riako Anam,…, Deadly consequences, A devastating  Cost of Inaction analysis from UNICEF and UNAIDS underscored what is at stake. If there is a 50 per cent reduction in HIV interventions for treatment and prevention, we could face a worse-case scenario of three million children acquiring HIV by 2040 and 1.8 million children dying from AIDS-related causes, the majority in sub-Saharan…, We know what works, We have the tools, the science, and the knowledge. Expanding proven interventions could prevent more than half a million deaths. What works is making sure new medical breakthroughs reach those who need it. Young women and girls are six times more likely to acquire HIV than boys. Lenacapavir, which offers protection with just two injections a year…, Declarations must be judged by one measure alone: lives saved., The measure of effectiveness for this new Political Declaration is simple: Will children be protected from HIV? Will mothers receive the care they need? Will adolescent girls be allowed to grow up without the shadow of HIV narrowing their futures? If the answer is yes, then the declaration will matter. If not, it will be another missed opportunity…, High-Level meeting on AIDS, – held every five years since 2001 at the UN – is a formal summit convened by the United Nations General Assembly that brings together world leaders, civil society, and health experts to review progress and set global strategies to fight the epidemic. The, Political Declaration , is the official, negotiated outcome document adopted by UN member states at the end of this meeting. It outlines specific, measurable targets, financial commitments, and human rights goals necessary to end AIDS as a public health threat.

NAIROBI, 16 June 2026 , – On the Day of the African Child, UNICEF's Children's Climate Risk Report 2026 warns that children across Eastern and Southern Africa are facing overlapping climate shocks that are disrupting essential services, undermining children's rights and deepening inequality. Across the region, over 65 million children, close to one in four, are already…

The Big Catch-Up, launched during World Immunization Week 2023, has delivered over 100 million vaccine doses to an estimated 18.3 million children across 36 countries. Around 12.3 million were “zero-dose children” who had not previously received any vaccines and 15 million who had never received a measles vaccine. The initiative concluded in March…, GENEVA/NEW YORK, 24 April 2026 – , The Big Catch-Up (BCU), a historic multi-year, multi-country effort to address vaccination declines driven largely by the COVID-19 pandemic, has reached an estimated 18.3 million children aged 1 to 5 across 36 countries with more than 100 million doses of life-saving vaccines, helping to narrow critical immunity gaps, announced Gavi, the Vaccine…, Addressing the vaccine equity gap, Beyond pandemic recovery, the BCU initiative focused on closing the vaccine equity gap. Millions of children every year miss the essential vaccinations they should receive before the age of one. Most of them live in fragile, conflict-affected, or underserved communities and are never caught up as they grow older. The 36 participating BCU countries…, Looking at the challenges ahead, Through the Big Catch-Up, for the first time ever, countries and global partners successfully reached 12.3 million “older” zero dose children between the ages of 1 to 5. However, in 2024, an estimated 14.3 million infants under the age of one globally failed to receive a single vaccine through routine immunization programmes. Despite BCU…, For every generation, vaccines work, WHO, UNICEF, and Gavi, along with countries and communities, are marking  World Immunization Week (24-30 April 2026) with a joint campaign, "For every generation, vaccines work," calling on countries to sustain and expand vaccination coverage at every age. At the midpoint of the  Immunization Agenda 2030 (IA2030), and central to  Gavi's 2026–2030…

NAIROBI, 20 April 2026, – Climate-related disasters have already cost education systems in Eastern and Southern Africa US$1.3 billion in direct loss and damage to schools and teaching infrastructure, and disrupted learning for 130 million children, according to a new UNICEF and Dalberg report, Protecting Children’s Learning Futures: Quantifying Climate-Related Loss and…, Strengthen the integration of education within national climate frameworks, : Explicitly reference education in National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) and Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), to help unlock access to climate and loss-and- damage financing., Apply a climate-risk lens to domestic education financing, : Ensure budget allocations to education are climate-informed, prioritizing the critical, foundational stage of learning for children and continuity of education in the face of climate shocks., Scale and target international climate finance for education, : Ensure major climate funds, including the Green Climate Fund, Adaptation Fund and the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD), allocate dedicated resources to education, with FRLD specifically supporting unavoidable losses when climate impacts exceed what education systems can adapt to.    ##### , Note to editors: , Report: UNICEF and Dalberg Protecting Children’s Learning Futures: Quantifying Climate-Related Loss and Damage in Eastern and Southern Africa, on Loss and Damage in Education B-roll: Climate and Education Broadcast Country analyses in the UNICEF and Dalberg report includes:, Kenya, : 2024 floods disrupted schooling and widened gender gaps in re-enrollment, particularly for girls and children with disabilities., Somalia, : Repeated droughts, floods and conflict have driven mass displacement, leaving millions of children out of school and newly displaced children – especially girls – least likely to attend., Mozambique, : Cyclones Idai and Kenneth in 2019 showed that while thousands of classrooms were destroyed, those built to resilient standards withstood the impact - highlighting both the returns on investment and the scale of unmet need., Ethiopia, : Rising temperatures and more frequent heatwaves affect 83 per cent of children, and are already disrupting school attendance, reducing concentration in the classroom, and undermining learning outcomes.

GENEVA/NEW YORK, 18 March 2026, – An estimated 4.9 million children died before their fifth birthday in 2024, including 2.3 million newborns, according to new estimates released today. Most of these deaths are preventable with proven, low-cost interventions and access to quality health care. According to the report – Levels & Trends in Child Mortality – under-five deaths…, Make child survival a political and financing priority, , with political commitment from high-burden countries to mobilize domestic resources, and improve access to evidence-based, quality services that are affordable for all., Focus on those at highest risk,, especially mothers and children in sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia, and in conflict and fragile settings., Strengthen accountability,  for existing commitments to reduce maternal, newborn, and child deaths, including transparent data collection, tracking, and reporting., Invest in primary health care systems , to prevent, diagnose and treat the leading causes of death in children, including through community health workers and skilled care at birth.,  , Quotes, “No child should die from diseases that we know how to prevent. But we see worrying signs that progress in child survival is slowing – and at a time where we’re seeing further global budget cuts,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. “History has shown what is possible when the world commits to protecting its children. With sustained…