Twenty years ago, a great grandmother witnessed violence and displacement in Darfur, Sudan.
Today, her great granddaughter is seeing the same.
The impact of the conflict is not just immediate - it’s generational.
Children in Sudan need peace and protection.
Over a million girls in Afghanistan have been denied the right to learn since a ban was imposed on their secondary education in 2021.
Now the country risks losing up to 20,000 women teachers and 5,400 healthcare workers by 2030 as these restrictions on education and women’s employment continue.
The impact is particularly severe in healthcare, where societal context often prevents women from receiving medical services from men. This means that the declining number of female health workers will directly limit maternal, newborn and child health services.
If the ban persists until 2030, over two million girls will have been deprived of their right to education beyond primary school.
Despite restrictions, UNICEF continues to support children’s education in Afghanistan. In 2025, over 3.7 million children in public schools received emergency support; 442,000 children – 66% of whom are girls – benefited from community-based learning initiatives, and 232 schools were built or rehabilitated.
As another cohort of girls loses the chance to learn, UNICEF calls for urgent action to restore girls' rights to secondary and higher education and sustain investment in primary education.
Together, these actions are essential to Afghanistan's health, education and economic future.
Two years of intense bombardments and fighting have taken a massive toll on children and their well-being across the Gaza Strip.
In any recovery and reconstruction, UNICEF believes that children’s voices must be heard and meaningfully reflected.
Over 11,000 children expressed their visions for Gaza to UNICEF and partners in an extensive consultation. These are some of them.
Here’s what 17-year-old Richard from Belize, a member of the UNICEF LAC Adolescent and Young People Action Board, want world leaders to understand about mental health.
#OnMyMind
Two out of every five people in Sudan are currently facing crisis levels of acute food insecurity, according to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis.
As the civil conflict enters its fourth year, the protracted hunger crisis in Sudan shows little sign of abating as violence, displacement and severe humanitarian access constraints are impacting children, families and communities across the country.
Sudan is also facing a severe nutrition crisis. Between January and March this year alone, almost 100,000 children were admitted for treatment for severe acute malnutrition – which can lead to deaths if not treated urgently.
“Across Sudan, children are trapped in a crisis of relentless violence, hunger and disease,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. “Many families have been displaced multiple times. Children suffering from severe acute malnutrition arrive at overstretched facilities too weak to cry. Without urgent action and sustained humanitarian access, more children will die.”
@fao , @worldfoodprogramme and UNICEF call for an immediate cessation of hostilities, for parties to the conflict to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure, and provide safe, rapid and unimpeded humanitarian access across conflict-affected areas.
Children in Lebanon continue to be at the sharp end of ongoing violence, displacement and exposure to traumatic events.
In the past seven days alone, despite an agreed ceasefire on 17 April 2026, at least 59 children have reportedly been killed or injured.
This includes two children from the same family who were killed this morning, along with their mother, in a strike that hit their car.
These are a stark reminder of the grave violations and ongoing risks children continue to face.
Beyond the immediate impact of bombs and airstrikes, an estimated 770,000 children are experiencing heightened distress from repeated exposure to violence, loss and displacement.
Children and caregivers report symptoms linked to traumatic stress and grief, including extreme fear and worry, nightmares, sleeplessness and feelings of hopelessness.
Without mental health and psychosocial support in safe and secure settings, these children are at serious risk of developing chronic or lifelong mental health issues.
UNICEF is scaling up mental health and psychosocial support services across Lebanon, including through safe spaces and community-based programmes. However, needs continue to far outpace available resources.
Learn more via the link in bio.
"Our school is destroyed, there's nothing left." - Roa’a, 12, West Bank, State of Palestine.
Her dreams of graduating grade 6 were shattered when her school - a place she loved to learn and play at with her friends - was reduced to rubble by settlers and Israeli forces.
There have been 99 documented education-related incidents in 2026 alone, including the killing, injury and detention of students, the demolition of schools, military use of school buildings, and denial of access.
Watch and share Roa'a's story.
“Children are paying an intolerable price for escalating militarised operations and settler attacks across the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
Between January 2025 and today, at least one Palestinian child has been killed, on average, every week.
That is, 70 Palestinian children killed in this timeframe. Ninety-three per cent of these were killed by Israeli forces. A further 850 children were injured. Most of those children killed or wounded were by live ammunition.”
- James Elder, UNICEF Spokesperson @james_unicef
“UNICEF is seeking to support children and their families in the West Bank to access safe water, sanitation and healthcare, and by providing cash assistance, learning materials, and psychosocial care.
UNICEF calls on the Israeli authorities - who have legal obligations to uphold child rights in all areas within its jurisdiction or effective control, including occupied territories - to take immediate and decisive action to prevent further killing and maiming of Palestinian children and to protect their homes, schools and access to water in line with international law. UNICEF also calls on Member States with influence, to use their leverage to ensure that international law is respected.”
Read the full remarks via link in the bio.
She didn’t cry.
Not because she was calm, but because she didn’t have the strength to.
Noor was diagnosed with severe acute malnutrition after her mother, Gul Bibi, took her on an almost two-hour-long journey to a health centre in Afghanistan.
Equipped with prescribed ready-to-use therapeutic food and counseling on healthy diets provided by UNICEF-supported health workers, Gul Bibi was now ready to support her daughter’s recovery at home.
On the journey to protect children from malnutrition, hope sometimes looks like a small sachet, like a dedicated health worker, like a mother’s determination and like a child who, little by little, finds the strength to smile again.
Share this story to inspire others!
#30yearsofRUTF
Three children from three countries in the Central Sahel - are in school and learning.
Konda Abdoul, 13, Burkina Faso.
Fatoumata, 13, Mali.
Anass, 12, Niger.
Insecurity, climate shocks and socio-economic crises have impacted education across the Central Sahel region. Over 8,400 schools became inaccessible in 2025 alone.
UNICEF teams across the region are on the ground supporting communities with essential needs, including health, water, education and protection.
Children in Sahel need stability and protection.
