What we do

We believe that ensuring a child is happy and healthy begins before birth: from ensuring their mother has access to good health care to reaching adulthood as a healthy, empowered and informed young person of the next generation. This journey relies on every child having access to quality health care, good nutrition, education, and growing up in a safe environment free from violence.

UNICEF South Africa works with the Government, families, communities and partners so that every child in South Africa can survive, learn, be protected and reach their full potential. 

As one child sets off to school in a crisp new uniform, another knocks on a car window at a traffic light, asking for money. As one sick child receives care in time, another arrives at the clinic too late. Children in South Africa have equal rights under the Constitution, but the worlds they are born into, and their chances in life, are deeply unequal. South Africa is one of the most unequal countries in the world, and 62% of children are multidimensionally poor.