UNICEF Launches $9.9bln Appeal Fund to Support 109mln Children, Women Worldwide 2025
In a statement released penultimate week Thursday, UNICEF revealed that around 213 million children globally are currently affected by unpredictable circumstances.
The agency noted that the 109 million children targeted for aid in 2025 are at significant risk, and donor funding is critical to ensure timely, effective, and sufficient humanitarian assistance.
UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell noted the unprecedented scale of children’s humanitarian needs in 146 countries and territories, a staggering number, therefore mandates UNICEF “must reach each of these children with the essential services and supplies they need and to ensure their rights are protected and upheld — a mandate that has guided our work for the past 78 years.”
She noted the impact of conflicts on newborns, citing 2024, where more than 57.5 million children were born into countries affected by conflict or other humanitarian crises adding that “UNICEF predicts that the figure is expected to rise by at least 400,000 in 2025”.
As part of its Humanitarian Action for Children, which outlines the agency’s 2025 appeal, UNICEF aims to provide life-saving assistance to millions of children and families worldwide.
The agency plans to reach 56.9 million children and women with primary healthcare services in UNICEF-supported facilities and to screen 34 million children aged 6-59 months for malnutrition.
Additionally, UNICEF intends to offer community-based mental health and psychosocial support to 20.6 million children, adolescents, and caregivers, and provide gender-based violence risk mitigation and response interventions to 11.1 million women, girls, and boys.
The agency also targets 24 million children for formal or non-formal education, including early learning programs, and aims to provide 55.3 million people with access to sufficient and quality water.
The funding appeal for 2025 highlights the most pressing needs in five key regions: Afghanistan, with an appeal for $1.19 billion; Sudan, $840 million; the Democratic Republic of the Congo, $804 million; the State of Palestine, $716 million; and Lebanon, $658 million.
In 2024, UNICEF’s response yielded significant results, including providing primary healthcare to 26.4 million children and women, screening 12.2 million children for malnutrition, and ensuring 17.4 million people had access to safe water.
UNICEF will provide education to 9.7 million children and support 12.6 million children, adolescents, and caregivers with mental health services.
UNICEF also noted that donors contributed more than 50% of its thematic humanitarian funding in 2024, but funding for many emergencies, particularly in countries like Burkina Faso, Lebanon, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, remains severely underfunded.