WAR IN UKRAINE

WAR IN UKRAINE

Crisis for Ukraine's Children:

As a result of the war in Ukraine:

  • 6.5 million people are internally displaced
  • 7.7 million, 90 percent of them women and children, have fled to Europe
  • altogether, 27.3 million people — including 7.1 million children — are in need of humanitarian assistance in Ukraine and in 19 countries in Europe

Working with partners, UNICEF quickly ramped up humanitarian relief operations when war in Ukraine escalated on Feb. 24, 2022, and continues working with partners inside the country to meet urgent needs. Here is a closer look at UNICEF's impact for vulnerable children and families.

Impact of UNICEF's humanitarian response to Ukraine war:

UNICEF is delivering critical support to meet emergency needs inside Ukraine and in neighboring refugee host countries.

In health, over 4.6 million children and women in Ukraine have been able to access primary health care in UNICEF-supported facilities and through mobile teams.

In nutrition, over 115,000 caregivers of children under age 2 have received counseling in infant and young child feeding counselling.

In water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), nearly 4 million people have gained access to safe drinking water, and nearly 1 million people have received critical WASH supplies.

In mental health and psychosocial support, UNICEF-supported interventions have reached 2.5 million children and caregivers while nearly 100,000 children and their families have benefited from case management and referrals.

In child protection, over 236,000 women and children have been reached by UNICEF-supported gender-based violence prevention, risk mitigation and response services.

In education, with UNICEF's support, over 857,000 children have been able to get back to learning, either in a school or in an informal setting, while another 421,000 children have benefited from learning interventions.

To expedite support to vulnerable families, close to 190,000 households have received multi-purpose humanitarian cash transfers.

A child protection crisis:

The war in Ukraine created a child protection crisis of epic proportions. The rapid outflux of people — mostly children and women — fleeing the fighting and escalation in conflict that erupted on Feb. 24, 2022, dwarfed all other refugee crises of recent years in terms of scale and speed.

In less than three months, 7.7 million people were internally displaced and more than 6.4 million people — including nearly two-thirds of all children in Ukraine, at a rate of one child every second — had crossed into Poland, Romania, Moldova, Slovakia, Hungary and other neighboring countries, according to data from UNHCR, the UN's lead refugee agency. 

The humanitarian situation continues to evolve and deepen at an alarming pace. 

Even before the heavy weapons fire and air strikes on cities and civilian neighborhoods, insecurity and deprivation had become a way of life for families in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts due to a conflict that started in March 2014. Humanitarian needs have been particularly acute for those living in the vicinity of the 'contact line' separating government-controlled areas from non-government-controlled areas.


UNICEF's emergency response teams — on the ground in Ukraine since 2014, addressing impacts of conflict on children in the eastern region — have significantly scaled up operations all across the country since war escalated 

UNICEF response teams have been on the ground on both sides of the contact line for the past eight years, delivering humanitarian assistance to impacted communities. The socio-economic and health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic only compounded existing hardships.

Together with partners, UNICEF has been steadily ramping up support focusing on the hardest-hit areas, and is committed to sustaining and expanding its emergency response — leveraging its existing relationships and longstanding programmatic presence to reach the most vulnerable.

That includes those who remain in Ukraine and those who have fled to neighboring countries.

How UNICEF is helping children in Ukraine:

UNICEF's humanitarian work in Ukraine has always focused on meeting critical needs for health care, safe water and nutrition, while also safeguarding children's rights and long term well-being and helping to strengthen critical systems and essential services.

For many years, and well before conflict started in the eastern region, UNICEF had been providing critical support to help close gaps in Ukraine's health system, particularly in the areas of childhood immunizations and HIV prevention. That support was significantly expanded as UNICEF rushed essential medicines, midwifery kits, surgical kits and other lifesaving supplies to health facilities where women were giving birth in makeshift basement bunkers.

Ongoing support for the UNICEF response in Ukraine — and in refugee-hosting countries — is needed as children and families continue to struggle to survive. 

'Blue Dot' safe spaces provide support to children and mothers on the move 

UNICEF is reaching vulnerable children and families who have fled Ukraine to neighboring countries from three dozen Blue Dot support centers strategically located along transit routes.

Set up by UNICEF and UNHCR along with local authorities and partners, these Blue Dots are an integral part of the UN's broader inter-agency refugee response plan for the region.

Assisting unaccompanied and separated children is a top priority. Protecting women and girls from gender-based violence and sexual exploitation is another. 

“Children have been killed. Children have been wounded. And children are being profoundly traumatized by the violence all around them," UNICEF Executive Director Catherine M. Russell said. "We must protect all children in Ukraine. Now. They need peae.”

 Afshan Khan, UNICEF’s Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia said: “UNICEF is on the ground, doing its best to meet children’s basic needs, but the only way out of the tragedy unfolding in Ukraine is for the conflict to end."

UNICEF's response in neighboring countries:

Working with government and other partners, UNICEF is providing a range of support and services to children and women who fled Ukraine for neighboring countries in Eastern Europe and beyond.

As of Oct. 31, 2022, over 171,000 children and women had received primary health care services; over 319,000 had accessed mental health and psychosocial support; and over 395,000 children had accessed formal or non-formal education, including early learning through UNICEF-supported mechanisms.

UNICEF continues to ship emergency supplies while helping to shore up WASH and child protection services at border crossings and accommodation sites, and to help scale up and sustain quality education, health and child and social protection services for Ukrainian refugees and their host communities.

UNICEF reports details of its response and impact for refugee children and families in Belarus, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and other countries in situation reports posted here. 

Help UNICEF save and protect Ukraine's most vulnerable children and families. Your tax-deductible contribution can make a difference. Donate today.


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