14 April 2025

A collective call to action for transforming learning and skills development in Africa

On 7 April 2025, UNESCO, UNICEF, and the African Union hosted a high-level pre-launch event to unveil the Second Continental Monitoring Report on SDG 4 and the Continental Education Strategy for Africa (CESA) 2016–2025: Transforming Learning and Skills Development in Africa. The gathering brought together minister...
07 April 2025

Transforming learning and skills development in Africa

On a continent with a rapidly growing youth population, it is essential that all young people, including women, girls and vulnerable populations, can develop the competencies they need to thrive. While many African nations are making commendable strides towards ensuring access to quality education and lifelong lea...
29 August 2023

Africa Climate Week 2023

Time to Act: African children in the climate change | Spotlight Some of the severe effects of climate change are felt in Africa, a continent which has historically contributed minimally to global carbon emissions. Adverse climate changes are causing significant damages on ecosystems and people, with the most vulne...
26 June 2023

More than 100,000 children fleeing Sudan conflict face new dangers amid desperate situation in Chad

NEW YORK/DAKAR/N’DJAMENA, 26 June 2023–, Children and families who have arrived in Eastern Chad in search of safety after fleeing the intensifying conflict in the neighbouring Sudanese region of Darfur, now face new needs and challenges as they seek refuge in provinces of Chad that are already some of the most dep...
15 June 2023

Our Education, Our Future

In the lead up to the Transforming Education Summit, UNICEF launched an initiative to hear directly from young people in Africa about their perceptions on education in their countries. Nearly five million responses from over 600,000 young people across 13 countries in Africa were gathered, leading to key recommend...
20 April 2023

New UNICEF report shows 12.7 million children in Africa missed out on one or more vaccinations over three years

Dakar/Nairobi/Johannesburg, 20 April 2023 –, UNICEF’s The State of the World’s Children 2023: For Every Child, Vaccination reveals today that 12.7 million children in Africa missed out on one or more vaccinations over three years. In the world, a total of 67 million children missed out on vaccinations between 2019...
08 December 2022

Good nutrition, bright futures

The 2022 African Union Year of Nutrition calls us to be bold and ambitious in envisioning Africa’s future: a future with well-nourished children, human capital to drive development, and more resilient communities and nations. With less than 10 years remaining to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals – includin...
24 October 2022

More than half of world’s unregistered children under 5 in Africa - UNICEF

ADDIS ABABA, 24 October 2022, –, Of the 164 million unregistered children under 5 worldwide, more than half (around 91 million) live in Africa, according to a new statistical update on birth registration in Africa, published by UNICEF in partnership with the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA). Nearly half o...
10 October 2022

UNICEF & WHO call for end to historic underfunding of mental health services in Africa

NAIROBI/DAKAR/BRAZZAVILLE, 10 October 2022, – On World Mental Health Day, UNICEF and WHO are calling for an end to historic under-investment in mental health services in Africa where the COVID-19 pandemic has helped shine a light on the gaps that exist in mental health care. Children and adolescents are particula...
24 August 2022

Children suffering dire drought across parts of Africa are ‘one disease away from catastrophe’ – warns UNICEF

NEW YORK/NAIROBI/DAKAR, 23 August 2022 , – Children in the Horn of Africa and the Sahel could die in devastating numbers unless urgent support is provided, as severe malnutrition and the risk of water-borne disease collide – UNICEF warns during World Water Week. “History shows that when high levels of severe acute...
27 May 2022

Calling for a rapid scale-up to tackle malnutrition and boost long-term resilience

27 May 2022 -, In a context of conflicts, global food price rises, poor harvests, climate change and COVID-19, the African Union and UNICEF used the side-lines of this week’s African Union Extraordinary Humanitarian Summit in Equatorial Guinea to call for stronger commitments from African leaders to strengthen mul...
24 May 2022

African leaders and development partners called to combine scaled-up humanitarian response with prevention, as the situation worsens for millions of children facing severe wasting - UNICEF

MALABO, EQUATORIAL GUINEA, 25 May 2022, — An increasing number of children across Africa’s protracted crisis areas – from the Sahel to the Horn of Africa - will be exposed to severe wasting as the impacts of insecurity, COVID-19, poor harvests, the Ukraine crisis and global food price rises hit vulnerable families...