Responding to emergencies
Children’s urgent needs are our priority
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- မြန်မာ
The challenge
The core commitments
The Core Commitments for Children in Humanitarian Action1 – the CCCs – are at the heart of UNICEF policy and its framework for supporting the rights of children in emergency and crisis situations.
Wherever there is a humanitarian crisis, UNICEF strives to reach the hardest-hit and most vulnerable children and families with lifesaving and life-sustaining support, as quickly as possible.
In Myanmar, children and families are enduring an increasingly complex and worsening humanitarian crisis driven by conflict, displacement, natural hazards, economic instability and the erosion of essential social services and protection of children's rights.
16.2 million people, including 4.9 million children, need urgent assistance
Overlapping shocks are upending lives and livelihoods across the country, leaving nearly 3.6 million people – more than one third of them children – internally displaced, forced from their homes, schools and communities. Ongoing conflict and insecurity, worsened by inflation and economic meltdown, means that Myanmar’s social systems are fragile. Children and women in conflict-affected areas face immense barriers to accessing care due to damaged infrastructure, shortages of health and education workers and the high cost or inaccessibility of services. Conflict, displacement, recurrent floods and other natural disasters continue to compromise access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene for affected populations. Damaged systems and overcrowded displacement sites heighten the risk of water-borne disease outbreaks.
How UNICEF is responding
UNICEF works to ensure that children and families enduring worsening humanitarian crises can access critical services when they need them most.
UNICEF’s humanitarian strategy focuses on working with communities, local and international partners and all stakeholders to deliver life-saving humanitarian assistance to ensure critical services reach children in need, with equity.
Together with local, national and international partners, UNICEF provides life-saving and critical services in:
- nutrition
- health
- water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH)
- education
- child protection
The protracted and complex nature of the multilayered crises impacting Myanmar requires UNICEF and partners to address acute humanitarian needs while investing in strengthening community resilience.
In coordination with other United Nations agencies, partners and stakeholders, UNICEF is maximizing the nationwide coverage of its field offices and cluster leadership to strengthen emergency preparedness and implement a multisectoral response, using multiple delivery platforms to address the continued humanitarian needs.
UNICEF is also supporting early recovery and sustain resilient social systems to withstand further shocks.
The solution
Progress so far
Nutrition
- In 2025:
- UNICEF and its partners reached nearly 2.5 million children aged 6–59 months with preventive nutrition services, along more than 194,000 caregivers of children under two years of age. These services included vitamin A and multiple micronutrient supplementation, as well as the promotion of counselling on infant and young child feeding (IYCF) to support optimal feeding practices.
- Over 365,000 children were screened for acute malnutrition, and 8,023 cases of severe acute malnutrition were identified and treated through life-saving interventions.
- Multiple micronutrient supplementation was provided to over 114,000 children under five years of age and more than 255,000 pregnant and lactating women
Primary health care services
In 2025:
- UNICEF and partners provided life-saving health care services to people affected by conflict and the March 2025 earthquake.
- Over 676,000 people were reached with primary health care services, including care of pregnant women, essential newborn care, care of sick children, and emergency referrals, through mobile and fixed clinics and outreach services
- UNICEF helped build the capacity of 445 health care workers from partner organizations on key community-based health care service provision for newborns and children aged under 5 years.
- Essential supplies, including interagency emergency health kits, clean delivery kits and newborn kits were provided to support essential newborn care at home, and essential medicines, including ORS, zinc and amoxicillin were provided to cover the needs of more than 640,000 people.
Water and sanitation
Life-saving water and vital sanitation and hygiene supplies are critical for internally displaced persons (IDPs) and underserved communities to safeguard their health and well-being.
In Myanmar in 2025:
- UNICEF and partners delivered lifesaving WASH assistance across Myanmar in response to earthquake, disease outbreaks, flooding, and protracted humanitarian needs.
- Support included treated water, household filtration, safe storage, purification chemicals, and rehabilitation of damaged systems.
- UNICEF exceeded its emergency water access goal, achieving 142 per cent of the target, which significantly improved reliable access to safe water in protracted camps and host communities.
- Essential WASH supplies reached 70 per cent of planned coverage, reinforcing hygiene practices and reducing AWD and cholera risks.
Education
Children’s education is vital for their well-being and future opportunities. Amid natural disasters and the ongoing conflict in Myanmar - and increasing impact on education - UNICEF is scaling up flexible learning opportunities for children, including community and home-based learning using high-quality educational materials. UNICEF and its partners are working to identify and support priority interventions to ensure safe learning for children across the country.
In 2025:
- UNICEF and its partners reached 1,413,661 children and caregivers with mental health and psychosocial support across conflict-affected and earthquake impacted areas.
- 854,401 children were supported to access formal and non-formal education, including early learning. This support included providing basic literacy, numeracy, and social and emotional learning, particularly benefiting internally displaced children.
- UNICEF and its partners also provided 389,023 children with individual learning materials, including essential learning packages.
- To improve the quality of learning, 24,538 educators were trained and incentivized with stipends.
1,328 temporary learning spaces were established or maintained to support learning continuity.
Child protection
With the ongoing conflict and deteriorating humanitarian situation across Myanmar, children are paying the heaviest price, enduring the harsh realities of displacement, forcible recruitment, and disruptions to vital services, including education and healthcare.
In 2025:
- UNICEF and partners provided services encompassing comprehensive child protection interventions, ranging from prevention to response. Prevention services included community awareness raising sessions, dissemination of child protection and prevention messages, explosive ordnance risk education (EORE), Gender-based violence (GBV) risk mitigation, protection from sexual exploitation and abuse (PSEA).
- 15,841 age- and gender-appropriate child protection kits were distributed to earthquake affected children, benefitting 23,663 children and adolescents.
More than 960,000 community members – both children and adults – had access to safe, confidential, and accessible channels to report sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) by humanitarian personnel. UNICEF continues to advocate for unimpeded humanitarian access to all areas where children are in need.
Despite the ongoing challenges inherent to the crisis, UNICEF is determined to continue to support the most vulnerable children and communities across Myanmar.
Drawing on its more than 75-year track record in Myanmar, including during times of conflict and crisis, UNICEF is able to adapt programmes quickly and to mobilize its extensive network of partners to deliver results efficiently, and at scale.
[1] https://www.unicef.org/emergencies/core-commitments-children
