Emergency Relief
Help provide life-saving support to children and families
© UNICEF/UNI706483/Nateel
Humanitarian Crises Around the World
When conflict breaks out or disaster strikes, children can lose their home, school and loved ones. They become extremely vulnerable to disease, malnutrition and violence. They suffer first and suffer most. When emergencies strike, we must act fast.
UNICEF is a global leader in humanitarian relief, responding to hundreds of emergencies every year. We have a presence in over 190 countries and operate the world’s largest humanitarian warehouse. This means we can mobilize quickly, delivering life-saving support anywhere in the world within 72 hours.
From Gaza to Ukraine to Sudan, we work tirelessly to bring essential healthcare, nutrition, education, water and protection to children who need it most. Our presence in many countries before, during and after emergencies allows us to prepare, respond and help communities recover, unlike any other humanitarian organization. This ensures that we not only meet the immediate needs of children and their communities but also strengthen their long-term resilience.
Donate to the children’s emergency fund
Today, there are more children in need of humanitarian assistance than at any time since the Second World War. Emergencies – from armed conflict to climate shocks to hunger and disease – are happening more often and lasting longer. Yet many of these rarely make international headlines and remain underfunded, leaving children increasingly exposed to violence, acute food insecurity, disease outbreaks and prolonged disruptions to essential services.
One in five children globally now grow up in a country facing a crisis lasting five years or more.
But there is hope. UNICEF’s Children’s Emergency Fund enables us to be ready to respond quickly to crises around the world. It is adaptable funding that can initiate a response and fill essential gaps. Wherever and whenever an emergency happens, we can rely on it to support whatever is needed most urgently for children.
Your gift to UNICEF’s Children’s Emergency Fund could help save lives by providing:
• Safe water in times of disaster
• Urgent medical aid and nutrition support
• Information and supplies to prevent disease outbreaks
• Support services for children and families who have lost their homes
• Education for children caught in crisis
• Safe spaces for children and families to recover
Help keep children safe when an emergency hits
When deadly earthquakes hit Myanmar in March 2025, UNICEF responded immediately, delivering clean water and essential supplies to children like four-year-old Thidar (pictured) and her community. In the first 100 days after the earthquake, UNICEF reached more than 600,000 people with safe water through temporary distribution points and water purification supplies.
Global emergency response
By donating to the Children’s Emergency Fund, we can protect children before, during and after disasters, delivering the help they need when it matters most.
Your support allows us to be:
• Fast, because we can release funds in a timely manner and respond quickly to the needs of children;
• Fair, because we can meet the needs of children in hard-to-reach areas and in underfunded emergencies, whether a crisis is in the spotlight or not;
• Prepared, because we can invest in preparedness that enables early action for an initial life-saving response – every $1 invested in preparedness reduces our response cost by $2.
In 2024 alone, UNICEF responded to over 400 emergencies in 104 countries, bringing life-saving aid to children and families, including:
• Clean water and sanitation for 41 million people;
• Measles vaccinations for 24.7 million children;
• Early detection and treatment of wasting and other forms of malnutrition, benefiting 109.3 million children under 5 years of age;
• Access to education for 9.2 million children and adolescents.
This incredible impact is only possible thanks to the generosity of our partners and supporters across Canada and around the world. As conflicts and crises continue to unfold around the world, your help is critical for us to continue reaching children in urgent need.
Learn more about our emergency response
Natural disasters
From earthquakes and floods to hurricanes and heat waves, natural disasters are occurring at an unprecedented rate worldwide. Learn all about UNICEF’s natural disaster relief efforts and how we respond and help communities recover, rebuild and become more resilient to future shocks.
Learn moreWhere your help is needed
Gaza
Since the violence escalated in October 2023, thousands of children have been killed and thousands more injured in the Gaza Strip. While the ceasefire offers a vital opportunity to deliver much-needed aid, the situation remains catastrophic for children. Despite the extremely challenging situation, UNICEF and partners are keeping a critical presence to assist children and their families.
Sudan
The intense violence has forced millions of children to flee their homes, making Sudan the largest child displacement crisis in the world. Since the beginning of the conflict, UNICEF has been on the ground providing immediate and life-saving humanitarian aid to the children of Sudan.
Ukraine
Ukraine’s children and their families have endured displacement, loss and violence since the war escalated in February 2022. One in five children has lost a loved one, and one in three has witnessed violence firsthand. UNICEF has been at the forefront of the humanitarian response, providing much-needed aid, including safe water, child protection, healthcare, education and psychosocial support.
Help UNICEF stay and deliver for children in emergencies
Ten-year-old Aden, a student at Arabee Aradawiya girls’ school in Damazine, Blue Nile State shows off her learning materials received as part of the UNICEF-supported back-to-school campaign in June 2025. Thanks to the UNICEF-supported back-to-learning campaigns across the state, enrolment has now reached 500 pupils, including 120 displaced and refugee children.
Across Sudan, the education of over 17 million children has been severely disrupted by the ongoing conflict. While many families remain displaced, UNICEF and its partners are rallying parents and caregivers to enroll their children back into learning.