Latest news with #UNICEF-supported
See - Sada Elbalad
16-05-2025
- Science
- See - Sada Elbalad
MOYS, UNICEF Inaugurate 5 New ‘Meshwary' Innovation Labs Across Egypt
Ahmed Emam The Ministry of Youth and Sports (MOYS) and UNICEF, with the support of the Education Above All Foundation (EAA), the Embassy of the Netherlands in Egypt, and the Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC), on Thursday unleashed a wave of opportunities for youth empowerment across Egypt with the inauguration of five new Innovation Labs in Giza, Qalioubeya, Kafr Elsheikh, Damietta, and Alexandria. These labs as part of the UNICEF-supported 'Meshwary' programme under the auspices of the Prime Minister, Dr. Mostafa Madbouly, are set to ignite social innovation, digital skills, and entrepreneurship among all youth, including migrants and refugees in Egypt. The 'Meshwary' Innovation Labs offer training zones, computer labs with high-speed internet, fabrication spaces for hands-on prototyping, and collaborative coworking areas, all under one roof. In his remarks at the inaugural event, Dr. Ashraf Sobhi, Minister of Youth and Sports, said, "The launch of the Meshwary Innovation Labs is a real example of the government's efforts to empower young people. We believe that youth can shape the future of Egypt. This initiative, implemented in partnership with UNICEF, represents a significant step towards providing innovation support to enhance the capabilities of Egyptian youth across various governorates." The Minister continued: "We believe that investing in the minds and talents of young people is the most important investment in sustainability, and innovation labs represent a new platform for expressing their energy and creating innovative solutions to societal issues. We will continue, with the support of the governmental leadership, to develop programmes and initiatives that give our youth the opportunity to be active partners in shaping the future." The innovation labs are designed with inclusion at their core. They feature Braille signage, ramps, and elevators, ensuring accessibility for all young people. In turn, Natalia Winder Rossi, UNICEF Representative in Egypt, said: 'We are committed to ensuring that every young person has the opportunity to develop the skills necessary to thrive in today's dynamic world, and we aim to scale these Innovation Labs nationwide.' 'Thanks to the leadership of the Ministry of Youth and Sports, with the valued support of our development partners, these Innovation Labs will offer youth with a space where they will find dignity, ownership, and belonging,' she added. Building on the 2022 launch of the first Innovation Lab in Cairo, these new labs are contributing to support the Government of Egypt advance its commitment—made during the High-Level Meeting in Tunisia in 2022—to reach 13.5 million young people with opportunities to learn, earn, and lead. They will also provide young people across the nation with access to opportunities, tools, and trust; determined to create a society where innovation and inclusion are the norm. read more Gold prices rise, 21 Karat at EGP 3685 NATO's Role in Israeli-Palestinian Conflict US Expresses 'Strong Opposition' to New Turkish Military Operation in Syria Shoukry Meets Director-General of FAO Lavrov: confrontation bet. nuclear powers must be avoided News Iran Summons French Ambassador over Foreign Minister Remarks News Aboul Gheit Condemns Israeli Escalation in West Bank News Greek PM: Athens Plays Key Role in Improving Energy Security in Region News One Person Injured in Explosion at Ukrainian Embassy in Madrid News Egypt confirms denial of airspace access to US B-52 bombers Lifestyle Pistachio and Raspberry Cheesecake Domes Recipe News Ayat Khaddoura's Final Video Captures Bombardment of Beit Lahia News Australia Fines Telegram $600,000 Over Terrorism, Child Abuse Content Arts & Culture Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban's $4.7M LA Home Burglarized Sports Former Al Zamalek Player Ibrahim Shika Passes away after Long Battle with Cancer Sports Neymar Announced for Brazil's Preliminary List for 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers News Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly Inaugurates Two Indian Companies Arts & Culture New Archaeological Discovery from 26th Dynasty Uncovered in Karnak Temple Business Fear & Greed Index Plummets to Lowest Level Ever Recorded amid Global Trade War
Forbes
26-04-2025
- General
- Forbes
Global Reach, Local Impact: UNICEF Delivering For Every Child
UNICEF's Supply Division is a great example of how UNICEF is continuously innovating to increase efficiency and maximize impact for children. More flexible funding from donors is required to sustain this important work. Learn more. Four-year-old Johnathan holds items included in an emergency kit distributed by UNICEF and partners in December 2024 to assist earthquake-affected families in the Erakor Bridge community in south Efate, Vanuatu. UNICEF is continuously innovating to ensure a targeted, effective humanitarian response in emergencies. UNICEF operates the world's largest humanitarian logistics and supply center in the world. That supply powerhouse enables UNICEF to respond to emergencies quickly and effectively — saving lives. A big part of this operation means strengthening and leveraging the power of public supply chains, and leaning into partnerships to ensure the response is appropriate and that children's specific needs are being met. Defining those needs is a critical step toward creating lasting change. In 2023, UNICEF procured over $5.2 billion in supplies and services for children in 162 countries and areas — including more than $893 million in emergency supplies to children in 81 countries, including many hard-to-reach locations. The organization's humanitarian action plan for 2025 aims to support 109 million children living through complex humanitarian crises. UNICEF is funded entirely through voluntary contributions from both public and private sector donors, including governments, civil society organizations, corporations and private individuals. As competition for humanitarian financing grows — fueled by drastic cuts in foreign aid — private sector supporters can help fill funding gaps. Young Yosha'a receives warm clothes distributed by UNICEF at a school-turned-shelter in Naher Al Bared village, rural Hama, Syria, established for families displaced by the 2023 earthquake. 'When I opened the bag, I was surprised that all of the clothes were my size,' he said. UNICEF-supported partners registered the information and age categories of earthquake-affected children staying in collective shelters to ensure that the clothing provided to them fits them. Small acts such as this mean that children receive what they need in a dignified way and aid doesn't go to waste. Addressing humanitarian needs requires more than the logistics of delivering aid. It demands innovative, people-centered solutions that uphold dignity. It means partnering at every level, and investing in local organizations and economies as part of the response. UNICEF's interconnected network of global, regional and local supply chains is what enables UNICEF to go the extra mile — even in hard-to-reach places — to ensure vulnerable children have access to safe water and nutrition, vaccines and other essential medicines, education and protection. Fragility is one of the greatest challenges to children's rights. To safeguard those rights, UNICEF works to strengthen national supply chains to ensure equitable and timely access to those essential services and supplies. UNICEF's technical expertise and comparative advantage touch upon many fields, driving long-term local ownership and sustainability. Today, 65 countries across five regions are currently engaged in supply chain strengthening activities with the support of UNICEF. This innovative work creates the critical local capacity needed to enable a faster, more efficient and targeted humanitarian response in emergencies, leading to children receiving a higher quality of care and support. When it comes to the emergency supplies received, acceptability, appropriateness and choice are key. It's an issue when something is perceived to be ineffective. It's also a problem when social and cultural factors discourage people from asking for what they need. But when there is an opportunity to choose specific items, when there are channels of communication for sharing preferences, then people are more likely to step forward to seek — and accept — the help they need. This in turn improves the effectiveness of the response and translates into better outcomes for the community overall. The UNICEF Kits That Fit initiative, launched in 2023, is helping to ensure that the emergency kits that are distributed to communities are context appropriate and tailored to recipients' needs and wants. To achieve this, UNICEF and partners created mechanisms that empower people to communicate those needs and preferences at the start of their road to recovery. Kits are designed accordingly, with items sourced locally as much as possible. UNICEF and partners collect feedback data directly from children, families and communities through accessible and child-friendly digital and face-to-face platforms, including mobile apps. The feedback is then used to make improvements and ensure kits are fit for purpose. Related: UNICEF Kits That Fit The Kits That Fit feedback loop is an extension of UNICARE, a broader initiative by UNICEF to listen to — and act upon — the voices of people UNICEF serves, and to help other decision makers take appropriate action, by adapting their own programs or making organizational improvements, to drive better results for children. Focus groups, mobile phone text surveys, telephone hotlines and other channels are also used to ensure broad engagement. The end result is higher accountability — not just to the children and families receiving the assistance, but to the partners supporting UNICEF's lifesaving work. Armed with an improved understanding of people's priorities, UNICEF leverages its agile approach to procurement and supply chain management to deliver faster, more targeted aid. By procuring items from local manufacturers and other businesses, UNICEF is also helping to strengthen and revitalize local economies. Local vendors enjoy greater visibility, and UNICEF gains knowledge of local markets. Local businesses and organizations become part of the solution for people affected by crisis. UNICEF's ability to scale up supplies and garner support from partners was fundamental to the success of an emergency immunization campaign where children in Jabalia in the north of the Gaza Strip received the polio vaccination in a bid to halt an outbreak and close immunity gaps. UNICEF's ability to scale up supplies at any given moment is another factor that sets it apart as a leader uniquely capable of meeting the emergency needs of children in crisis. It is this capacity that enabled UNICEF to send 350 trucks of aid into the Gaza Strip in one week — after 15 months of bombardment and a long-awaited ceasefire — to reach the needs of over 1 million children. UNICEF's robust cold chain supply system and partnership with the World Health Organization halted a serious outbreak of polio in the Gaza Strip in late 2024, when over half a million children under 10 years received vaccinations as part of UNICEF'S emergency polio vaccination campaign. In South Sudan, UNICEF was able to overcome supply bottlenecks to scale the nutrition response by prepositioning supplies during the dry season and managing the supply pipeline for ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF), ensuring it would be continuously available. That coupled with the implementation of a community-based approach to managing acute malnutrition has supported the broader national strategy to prevent and treat malnutrition, significantly increasing recovery rates. In Somalia, UNICEF worked to digitalize the nutrition supply chain to reach more children suffering from malnutrition with effective aid. Digital solutions help prevent the diversion of aid, reducing risks and losses. UNICEF's plans to digitalize the severe wasting registry in Somalia mean that data can be directly linked to the supply chain, creating stronger reporting on consumption and stock data, leading to more timely availability of supplies to prevent severe wasting in children and save lives. For more than seventy years, UNICEF has been the trusted partner for those who seek to save and change children's lives. Voluntary contributions from donors don't just fund programs; they also help drive innovation and overall system strengthening. The support creates ripple effects that positively impact today's generation of children and many generations to come; children receiving humanitarian aid today are the leaders, innovators, and change makers of tomorrow. On average, 50 percent of contributions to UNICEF are restricted to a handful of crises. Flexible funding — donor support that is unearmarked to any specific country or program — helps UNICEF close gaps between identified needs and the resources required to meet them. It's how UNICEF stays nimble, able to direct resources strategically, wherever and whenever they are needed most, for maximum impact. Help UNICEF reach more children with urgently needed support. Please donate today. Right now, the lives of the most vulnerable children hang in the balance as conflicts and crises jeopardize the care and protection that they deserve. Dependable, uninterrupted and effective foreign aid is critical to the well-being of millions of children. Please contact your members of Congress and urge them to support ongoing U.S. investments in foreign assistance. This article is based on a report written by the UNICEF Humanitarian Funding Unit. Part of the Division of Private Fundraising and Partnerships (PFP), based in Geneva, HFU steers global efforts to maximize fundraising for humanitarian crises and sudden onset disasters.
Forbes
18-04-2025
- Health
- Forbes
Protecting Syria's Children From Landmines And Unexploded Ordnance
After 14 years of brutal conflict in Syria, an estimated 5 million children are living in high-risk areas where deadly landmines and unexploded ordnance threaten every step they take outside their homes. Children attend an awareness session about the risk of explosive ordnance at a UNICEF-supported child-friendly space in Deir-ez-Zor city, northeast Syria, on Feb. 6, 2024. Twelve-year-old Asma, far right, says walking to school became a nightmare after a friend's brother brought home a strange metal object he found in the street. It exploded, injuring both of his sisters. Luckily both girls survived. A UNICEF-supported education program helped Asma overcome her fears and learn how to stay safe. Abdul, 12, was playing football with friends in a field behind his house in Hama, Syria when one of them stepped on something shiny on the ground. The blast that followed killed Abdul's 15-year-old cousin Mohamed and injured Abdul and his 10-year-old brother, who sustained multiple fractures to their legs and arms. They can no longer walk without help. Both are deeply traumatized. Their stories are far too common. Over the past nine years, more than 422,000 incidents involving unexploded ordnance (UXO) have been reported in 14 Governorates across Syria, with half estimated to have ended in tragic child casualties. Across the country, children face this lurking, often invisible and extremely deadly threat. More than a decade of devastating conflict has left communities across Syria littered with an estimated 324,000 pieces of UXO — bombs, mortars, grenades, missiles or other devices. UNICEF continues to push for increased humanitarian demining efforts to remove deadly remnants of war and make communities safe again. UNICEF-supported risk education programs teach communities and children how to recognize and avoid landmines and UXO. Children who attend awareness sessions become familiar with the common types and shapes of explosive ordnance and learn to stay away from strange-looking objects. They also receive psychosocial support and psychological first aid to help them cope with the fear and trauma they experience after seeing friends killed and injured by explosive devices. Learn more about UNICEF's work for children in Syria. Sisters Asma, 12, and Sama, 10, walk to school in Deir-ez-Zor city, northeast Syria. After friends were injured by an explosive remnant of war, the girls' mother found a UNICEF-supported child-friendly space where they received psychosocial support to help them handle their fears and education on how to stay safe from unexploded ordnance. Now Asma moves through her neighborhood with confidence, and plans to become the director of a child-friendly space when she grows up. In 2025, UNICEF plans to reach more than 653,000 children and caregivers with landmine or other explosive weapons prevention and/or survivor assistance interventions. More funding is urgently needed. "There is no hope for reconstruction in Syria when there is so much destruction still lying in wait on the ground," UNICEF Communication Manager Ricardo Pires said in January 2025. 'Syria cannot move past this horrific war if children remain at risk of walking outside their doors and being blown up by explosives.' 'There is no hope for reconstruction in Syria when there is so much destruction still lying in wait on the ground.' "Every day without action is another that threatens the children of Syria," Pires continued. "These children — who have lived their entire lives in danger — deserve to live the rest of their lives in safety." Right now, the lives of the most vulnerable children hang in the balance as conflicts and crises jeopardize the care and protection that they deserve. Dependable, uninterrupted and effective foreign aid is critical to the well-being of millions of children. Please contact your members of Congress and urge them to support ongoing U.S. investments in foreign assistance. Your contribution to UNICEF is 100 percent tax deductible. Please donate.
Forbes
17-04-2025
- Health
- Forbes
Strengthening Senegal's Health Systems At The Community Level
In Abbecouta, Senegal, women treat water at home with purification tablets, a practice that community volunteer Hassanha Sow emphasized as part of his leading role in the UNICEF-supported Community-led Total Sanitation initiative. By making the water safe for drinking and cooking, the practice reduces exposure to bacteria and viruses and leads to healthier communities. By Angela Duffy We arrived during Senegal's dry season, a time when the air is dusty and there are fewer crops to harvest. As our group traveled through the southern region of Casamance, we took in the flat green vegetation by the side of the road, and beautiful, lush mangroves peppered with white lilies. Woven fences enclosed communal areas where community members worked and children played. As we made our way to the village of Abbecouta, we passed through towns with vibrant public art, where sellers sat by wooden tables with spindly legs loaded with pyramids of stacked citrus. Driving through a village called Diagho, our UNICEF driver, Souleymane Diedhiou, beeped and waved to a group of men. He grew up here. He's been a driver with UNICEF for 20 years and knows the area well. Once in Abbecouta, we met up with Hassanha Sow, a community relay who has been a key advocate of Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS), an initiative UNICEF launched in 2009, and continues to support, to encourage communities to build latrines, abandon the practice of open defecation and adopt good hygiene practices. CLTS has reached over 1.8 million people from 4,300 villages to date, employing a simple and highly effective strategy that relies on positive behavior change by emphasizing the connection between open defecation and the spread of disease. To spur the movement forward, Hassanha ran demonstrations for community members showing how to treat water before use, helping to drive adoption of better hygiene practices in homes and communal spaces. Community volunteer Hassanha Sow works closely with UNICEF staff to support health initiatives in his village of Abbecouta, in Senegal's southern region of Casamance. Hassanha's village is one of many that has managed to end open defecation for good. As a result, there have been fewer instances of diarrheal disease and skin disease — and fewer mosquitos, especially during the rainy season, helping to reduce the risk of malaria and other mosquito-borne illnesses. CLTS has since expanded to tackle other issues, with UNICEF supporting the training of more volunteers like Hassanha to work across other sector areas, such as education and nutrition. Having members of the community lead the charge is important, we're told, as it strengthens community ownership over — and commitment to improving — local health and social outcomes. 'The needs are great,' Hassanha said. 'But we are making progress.' Related: UNICEF in Senegal: a mission overview In 2021, with UNICEF's support, the CLTS initiative broadened its scope to take on local challenges related to vaccination, prenatal care for expectant mothers and birth registration, a critical step for connecting children to health and social services. While prenatal visits are widely understood to be important for the health of the mother and baby, the costs of transportation and the visit itself are often prohibitively high, Hassanha explained. He has found success in bringing pregnant mothers' families into the conversation, specifically speaking with the husbands who can help support the expectant mother. During home visits, Hassanha also talks about the importance of civil registration in the form of a birth certificate for the newborn. Introducing the concept before birth makes it more likely that women will get birth certificates for their children, and he is proud to say that every child in his community now has a birth certificate. By improving hygiene practices across all villages where it has been implemented, the expanded CLTS program has helped reduce cases of child malnutrition as well. Community workers like Hassanha are trained and equipped to help families understand the connection between good hygiene practices and good health, and to guide them toward healthy practices. Improved hygiene leads to fewer cases of diarrhea, which interferes with nutrient absorption and is a major underlying cause of malnutrition. In Abbecouta, cases of malnutrition have significantly decreased, with only one case reported last year. A water tower in Abbecouta, Senegal. Village leaders shared that the needs of the community have outgrown the size of this communal resource. Yves Olivier Kassoka, Chief of the Field Office in Kolda, joined UNICEF Senegal in 2010 as a child protection specialist. In his current position since May 2019, he has been a champion of UNICEF's approach to integrating services and supports in order to maximize impact for children. When I asked him what he is most proud of in his work with UNICEF, he said it was how UNICEF works to meet children's needs holistically, citing the expansion of the sanitation project in Abbecouta to encompass other critical interventions and services as a great example. During a single visit by a UNICEF-trained community health worker, families can get a birth certificate for their child while also accessing vaccinations, nutrition screenings, early education enrollment and maternal health check-ups to help ensure that children not only gain legal identity but also get essential health interventions, improving both child protection and survival rates. Combining services like this, Yves said, is how UNICEF maximizes impact: reducing barriers to access and strengthening national health and legal systems while maintaining cost efficiency. 'Children's rights are interrelated,' he explained. This strategy isn't just for Senegal. UNICEF takes this approach globally, especially in remote rural areas of many other countries where it works. In Bangladesh — where over 90 percent of children under age 5 are vaccinated but only 56 percent have a birth certificate — UNICEF-supported mobile outreach programs now allow parents to register their children's births when they receive health check-ups and vaccinations, an effort to close that gap. A UNICEF USA delegation visits a village health post in Dinguiraye, where local health workers report on progress made in maternal health care, breastfeeding and birth registration, with UNICEF's help. To the side sits a solar-powered cold storage chest that UNICEF provided to keep vaccines stable. From left: UNICEF USA supporter VanTrang Manges, UNICEF USA Board Member Carol Hamilton, UNICEF USA Philanthropy Officer James Perez, UNICEF USA Chief Philanthropy Officer Michele Walsh and UNICEF Senegal Chief of the Field Office in Kolda, Yves Olivier Kassoka. In Dinguiraye, we visited a UNICEF-supported health post that serves 9,700 people in the surrounding area, including Abbecouta. There are serious barriers to accessing health care here too. Even buying medication or getting access to specific interventions requires distant — and expensive — travel. Community members tell us that there was once a hospital nearby with government-subsidized costs, but it has since closed. Now the closest health center is more than 7 miles away and there is only one ambulance for the community, which they share with several other villages. We heard about a pregnant woman who faced complications during delivery and had to wait more than a day to be transported to the health center for treatment on the other side of the border, in The Gambia. Delays like these can lead to precarious health situations and complications. Establishing a health post in the village — the smallest type of health facility, with one doctor, one nurse and one midwife on staff — is an effort to overcome the lack of services. Community health workers pitch in, as does the local Bajenu Gox, or neighborhood godmother, a highly respected community member who provides health and social support to children and women. The concept was introduced by the Senegalese government, building on traditional structures where older women mentor younger women in their communities. As it does for many other villages across Senegal, UNICEF supports the Dinguiraye health post by providing medical equipment and supplies and supporting health worker training. The entire health system in Senegal, in fact, benefits from UNICEF's contributions in immunization and treatment of child malnutrition. The three-room structure is frequently crowded, and the day we visited was no different. A cold storage chest contains vaccines provided by UNICEF. The health post mostly uses solar power, making night births challenging when stored solar energy gets used up. Community health workers told us about delivering babies by lamplight or the light from a cellphone. With support from UNICEF, and with community members leading the way, the village's health care workers have made great progress in prenatal care. Women are encouraged to visit the health post early in their pregnancy and have at least eight prenatal visits where they get vitamins and vaccinations, like the TDap. Samba Sow (no relation to Hassanha), the head nurse on staff, prescribes iron as needed to treat anemia and distributes mosquito nets to those who do not have them. Samba told us how he discourages home births, explaining to the women in his care that hospital settings have better outcomes, especially in communities where lack of sanitation at home carries risks of infection. At a birthing facility, the newborn can receive timely vaccinations and health workers can monitor the mother for postpartum complications. Some women do not seek out this type of care because it is expensive. This is where community mobilizers come in. These individuals, trained by UNICEF, reach out to women and their families to communicate the importance of delivering at the health post, a tactic that appears to be working: In 2024, the community saw 14 home births; so far in 2025, there has been only one. The UNICEF USA delegation learns from a community health care worker how she supports new mothers and educates them on the health benefits of breastfeeding. Dabo Baldé, one of the community mobilizers who also works in the village's Early Childhood Development center, described how she helps educate new mothers about the importance of exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months. Given the prevalence of waterborne illness in the community, breastfeeding can significantly improve the health of a baby, in addition to giving them the critical nutrients that breastmilk contains. Other community members spoke of their future aspirations, including getting a second ambulance and creating a nutrition center where they can make enriched flour to support child nutrition. Currently, the health post is the only place to make this type of flour, but sanitation is a key concern. The sole machine is costly to use and requires training. 'All across Senegal, needs are increasing but we are seeing great progress across all of our programs,' Yves said. 'We and our partners are not sure what might happen with funding gaps and changing needs, but no matter what, UNICEF will be here to support children and communities.' UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories to create a more equitable world for children. Your lifesaving donation to UNICEF is 100 percent tax deductible. Angela Duffy is UNICEF USA's Senior Director for Strategic Marketing and Communications.
Forbes
15-04-2025
- Health
- Forbes
UNICEF Reaching Children Caught In Sudan's Perfect Storm
On March 2, 2025, children walk back home from a UNICEF-supported child-friendly space in Al Houri internally displaced people's (IDP) camp in Gedaref State, Sudan. At the camp, UNICEF and partners are delivering an integrated emergency response in water, sanitation and hygiene, health and nutrition, child protection and education, benefiting children and their families from displaced and host communities. As the brutal armed conflict in Sudan moves into its third year, the country is mired in the world's largest humanitarian and child displacement polycrisis. Life is a daily battle to survive for 30 million people in need of humanitarian assistance. Nearly 15 million people have been displaced inside Sudan and across borders; more than half of those displaced are children. Almost one in three are under the age of 5. Famine is spreading, vaccination rates are dropping. Sexual violence against children is being used as a weapon of war. About 90 percent of children are out of school. In areas where opportunities to return arise, unexploded ordnance and limited access to essential services put children's lives at heightened risk. On April 5, 2025, mothers and children gathered at Saudi Hospital in Omdurman, Khartoum State, Sudan, to access essential health services. The hospital receives lifesaving vaccines, nutrition supplies and essential medicines from UNICEF. The day the war began — April 15, 2023 — Fatuma, 13, was taking a test at her school in Khartoum. "In the middle of the exam, a teacher entered and asked us to put the papers away," Fatuma said. "She didn't tell us why. She told us to go straight home and not to look around or linger in the streets." By the time she arrived home, her family was in a state of panic. As the sound of intense fighting grew nearer, the family fled in search of safety. Since then, they have moved six times. Home for now is a camp for the internally displaced in Kassala. UNICEF has been on the ground in Sudan since the 1950s, working to improve critical services and provide support and protection for vulnerable children. In 2024, UNICEF and partners provided psychosocial counseling, education and protection services to 2.7 million children and caregivers, reached over 9.8 million children and families with safe drinking water, screened 6.7 million children for malnutrition and provided lifesaving treatment for 422,000 of them. UNICEF continues to prioritize lifesaving interventions in conflict zones and also supports displaced populations and host communities in safer areas, providing essential services and support. UNICEF Representative to Sudan, Sheldon Yett, center in UNICEF vest, enjoys a light moment with children at Ammar Ibn Yasir School for Boys on April 5, 2025. The school hosts a safe learning space for internally displaced children in Karrari, Khartoum State. Safe learning spaces are places where children can meet, play, sing, have fun together and access learning activities supported by teachers. But access by humanitarian actors to children is deteriorating due to the intensity of the conflict and to restrictions or bureaucratic impediments imposed by government authorities or other armed groups. In 2024, over 60 percent of UNICEF's aid deliveries were delayed amid a highly volatile security environment. Although no missions were cancelled or aborted, these repeated delays disrupted the timely delivery of assistance and hindered access to children in urgent need. In Central Darfur, Sudan, UNICEF partners and volunteers transport cartons of ready-to-use therapeutic food by raft in September 2024, following the collapse of the Wadi Mornei bridge due to flooding. Last week, dozens of civilians, including at least 23 children, and several aid workers were reportedly killed in attacks in Al Fasher and Abu Shouk and Zamzam IDP camps. Over the past three months, more than 140 children have been killed or maimed in Al Fasher alone, underscoring the relentless toll of the ongoing war on children in Sudan and the extreme conditions facing humanitarian workers. "Two years of violence and displacement have shattered the lives of millions of children across Sudan," said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. "Needs continue to outpace humanitarian funding. With the rainy season around the corner, children who are already reeling from malnutrition and disease will be harder to reach. I urge the international community to seize this pivotal window for action and step up for Sudan's children.' "We have the expertise and the resolve to scale up our support, but we need access and sustained funding," Russell continued. "Most of all, children in Sudan need this horrific conflict to end.' On April 5, 2025, a child shows his drawing of a tank at a UNICEF-supported child-friendly space (CFS) in the Alhatana neighborhood, Omdurman, Khartoum State, Sudan. Right now, the lives of the most vulnerable children hang in the balance as conflicts and crises jeopardize the care and protection that they deserve. Dependable, uninterrupted and effective foreign aid is critical to the well-being of millions of children. Please contact your members of Congress and urge them to support ongoing U.S. investments in foreign assistance. Help UNICEF reach more children with urgently needed support. Please donate today.
