A BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO UNICEF

UNICEF – WHAT WE DO

For over 70 years, UNICEF has been the defender of children around the world, regardless of gender,religion, race or economic background. When the world’s most vulnerable need a champion in theface of conflict, disease or exclusion, UNICEF has been there.

We were created after World War II with the aim to ease the burden of the world’s most vulnerablechildren fleeing conflict in post-war Europe – no matter what country they were from. The only thing that mattered to UNICEF was reaching children in need. What mattered was achieving results.

The same holds true today. We work day-in and day-out, in some of the world’s toughest places, toreach the children and young people who are most at risk and most in need. We work to save theirlives. To protect their rights. To keep them safe from harm. To give them a childhood in which they’reprotected, healthy and educated. To give them a fair chance to fulfil their potential.

UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories to save children’s lives, to defend their rights, andto help them fulfil their potential, from early childhood through adolescence.

We promote girls’ education – ensuring that they complete primary education as a minimum –because it benefits all children, both girls and boys. Girls who are educated grow up to become better thinkers, better citizens, and better parents to their own children. We act so that all children are immunized against common childhood diseases, and are well nourished: no child should suffer or die from a preventable illness. We work to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS among young people because it is right to keep them from harm and enable them to protect others. We help children and families affected by HIV/AIDS to live their lives with dignity.

We involve everyone in creating protective environments for children. We are present to relieve suffering during emergencies, and wherever children are threatened, because no child should be exposed to violence, abuse or exploitation.

UNICEF upholds the Convention on the Rights of the Child. We work to assure equality for those who are discriminated against, girls and women in particular. We work for the Millennium Development Goals and for the progress promised in the United Nations Charter. We strive for peace and security. We work to hold everyone accountable to the promises made for children.

We are part of the Global Movement for Children – a broad coalition dedicated to improving the life of every child. Through this movement, and events such as the United Nations Special Session on Children, we encourage young people to speak out and participate in the decisions that affect their lives.

We are UNICEF. We stand for every child, everywhere. And we never give up.

A BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO UNICEF

THE IMPACT OF YOUR DONATION

£3 could feed a child in an emergency situation, with high energy biscuits for 5 days
£4 could equip 5 health facilities to be able to screen for child malnutrition
£6 could provide life-saving rehydration salts to treat 15 children
£10 could ensure 25 children suffering from pneumonia get the antibiotics they need to recover £13.50 could buy polio vaccines to protect 100 children

£15 could provide vitamin sprinkles for two toddlers for a year

£16 could buy a vaccine cool box that ensures life-saving vaccines are kept cool enough to remain effective

£16 could provide exercise books for 50 children
£18 could provide 5,000 water purification tablets
£19 could buy mosquito nets to protect nine families from malaria
£20 could provide antibiotics to fully treat 50 children suffering from pneumonia
£25 could provide a school or community with a first aid kit
£25 could provide warm blankets for five babies
£29 could provide an emergency shelter kit for a family
£31.50 could provide crucial midwifery equipment, ensuring the safe delivery of a baby) £32.50 could provide an emergency family water and hygiene kit
£36 could provide a school with a solar powered wind-up radio
£20 could provide HIV test kits for 50 mums and their babies
£160 could provide a school in a box to help 40 children
£500 could provide emergency supplies to help Syrian children

£634 could provide a water pump to provide essential, clean safe drinking water for a whole village or school