About

About UNICEF

UNICEF is the global leader promoting and protecting children’s rights in 190 countries, including Syria.

A nutrition worker from a UNICEF-supported mobile team holds 5-month-old Samar, preparing her for a weight check at a shelter in Sayyeda Zeinab, Rural Damascus.

Our mission

UNICEF promotes the rights and wellbeing of every child, in everything we do. Together with our partners, we work in 190 countries and territories to translate that commitment into practical action, focusing special effort on reaching the most vulnerable and excluded children, to the benefit of all children, everywhere.

A government worker stands next to a pump to spray DDT with villagers around him — UNICEF A government worker prepares to pump a spray can containing the chemical DDT in the village of Koufrain. Several children and adults are with him. In 1952 in Syria, UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO) are supporting a campaign against malaria, which has ravaged the population and the economy for generations.

3 shaved heads children stand with a man health worker — UNICEF Three children with shaved heads, who are suffering from mycosis, stand with a man health worker outside the UNICEF-assisted Infectious Disease Hospital in Damascus, the capital. Circa 1952 in Syria, some 50,000 of the country's 1 million children suffer from mycosis, a highly contagious scalp disease.

UNICEF in Syria

A volunteer show pictures to three young children in a street with rubble and war damaged buildings. — UNICEF/UN055815/Khudr Al-Issa Mohammad (right) is a volunteer with a UNICEF-supported risk education campaign. “Imagine if you could contribute to saving someone’s life. Let alone help save hundreds of children. The value of what we do cannot be measured,” said Mohammad.

UNICEF’s office in Syria was established in 1970 and has been working with partners to help empower children to fully claim and enjoy their rights under the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

UNICEF works with partners across Syria to deliver supplies, services and expertise in areas of Child Protection, Education, Health, Nutrition, Water, Hygiene and Sanitation for every child. UNICEF also provides humanitarian assistance when needed.