Global
Recommended resources
Programme
Healthy environments
Environmental hazards have been linked to a range of significant health risks for children
Programme
Peacebuilding and social cohesion
Saving children’s lives by addressing the root causes of conflict and fragility
Programme
Making systems work for nutrition
Strengthening systems across sectors to tackle child malnutrition
Programme
Partnerships and governance for nutrition
Strengthening partnerships, evidence and advocacy for maternal and child nutrition
More resources
Document
Navigating Pushback: Building Resilience to Safeguard the Child Rights Agenda
Pushback against children’s rights is on the rise worldwide, threatening hard-won gains in child protection, education, and health, and limiting children’s ability to fully realize their rights. The pushback is also manifesting in legal and political arenas, as was the case in The Gambia, where the 2015 Women’s (A...
Page
UNICEF at the UN General Assembly
During the United Nations General Assembly, UNICEF works to keep the spotlight on children, generating benefits for their health, education, nutrition, protection and overall wellbeing. , Cutbacks for children anywhere threaten security and prosperity everywhere, For nearly 80 years, global progress for children h...
Appeal
Children in urgent need after powerful earthquake hits eastern Afghanistan
Children make up more than half of all deaths in the aftermath of the powerful earthquake that struck eastern Afghanistan on 31 August 2025. Thousands of homes have been damaged or destroyed. Overall, more than half a million people have been impacted. Behind these numbers are children left standing alone in the r...
Document
Placing children at the heart of the non-communicable disease and mental health agenda
Around the world, non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and poor mental health are causing immense suffering among children and young people. They hamper the healthy development of children with negative impacts across the life course and are a leading cause of death, disease and disability, especially among adolescent...
Campaign
Healthy Starts
Every child has the right to grow up healthy and safe. Yet, around the world, more than 2.1 billion children and adolescents are affected by non-communicable diseases and mental health conditions. From the start, children’s health and wellbeing are at risk due to poor nutrition, harmful environments and too few o...
Brief
UNICEF COP30 Policy Briefing
Children represent one-third of the global population and account for half of all people living in extreme poverty – a key driver of heightened vulnerability. Children are also disproportionately impacted by climate change due to their unique physiological and developmental characteristics that set them apart from...
Press release
Obesity exceeds underweight for the first time among school-age children and adolescents globally – UNICEF
NEW YORK, 10 September 2025, –, Obesity surpassed underweight as the more prevalent form of malnutrition this year, affecting 1 in 10 – or 188 million – school-aged children and adolescents, and placing them at risk of life-threatening disease, UNICEF warned in a new report today. Feeding Profit: How Food Environ...
Press release
Global funding cuts could force 6 million more children out of school in the coming year – UNICEF
NEW YORK, 3 September 2025, – As global education funding faces steep cuts, an estimated 6 million additional children could be out of school by the end of 2026, around one-third of them in humanitarian settings, UNICEF warned in a new analysis released today. Official Development Assistance (ODA) for education is...
Remarks
UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell remarks at the second regular session of the UNICEF Executive Board
NEW YORK, 2 September 2025, – “Excellencies, distinguished delegates, colleagues and friends … “It is my pleasure to welcome you to this second regular session of the UNICEF Executive Board for 2025. I begin by extending my sincere gratitude to Ambassador Hikmat, President of the Executive Board, and to the entire...
Document
Education aid cuts: A broken promise to children
A new UNICEF analysis shows that international aid to education is projected to fall by US$3.2 billion by 2026 – a 24 per cent drop. If the announced cuts to official development assistance (ODA) become a reality, UNICEF estimates that 6 million more children risk being out of school by end of 2026, 30 per cent of...
Press release
Fast facts: 1 in 4 people globally still lack access to safe drinking water – WHO, UNICEF
NEW YORK/GENEVA, 26 August 2025 , – Despite progress over the last decade, billions of people around the world still lack access to essential water, sanitation, and hygiene services, putting them at risk of disease and deeper social exclusion. A new report: Progress on Household Drinking Water and Sanitation 200...
Article
Cutting children’s lifelines
Malnutrition is deadly. A child suffering from severe acute malnutrition is nine times more likely to die than a well-nourished child. But the dire consequences of malnutrition aren’t always immediate or visible from the outside. Poor diets also inflict devastating damage on the inside, stunting children’s growth,...