Afghanistan is one of the most challenging places in the world to be a child. Ongoing conflict, extreme climate shocks, severe economic decline, and disease outbreaks are making life for children even harder. 

Afghanistan's children face an uncertain future in a constantly changing and volatile situation. At least 12.6 million children need humanitarian assistance as families suffer extreme poverty in Afghanistan with limited access to healthcare, education, food and safe, clean water. 

Girls are enduring a systematic crisis as women’s rights in Afghanistan are not being recognised. Their exclusion from secondary education and the workforce – and the imposition of rules governing their daily lives – has significantly increased their protection risks, devastated their rights to an education, and restricted their access to healthcare. The impacts will be felt for generations to come.  

UNICEF has stood by the women and children of Afghanistan for more than 70 years throughout multiple crises, and as a humanitarian organisation, we will stay and deliver. We will engage, advocate and look for every opportunity to reach women and children who need us, no matter what.  

Thanks to support from generous people like you, our teams are on the ground:

• providing medical care to displaced families.


• delivering emergency water and sanitation facilities.


• vaccinating babies against polio and other preventable diseases.


• treating children for severe acute malnutrition.


• giving cash assistance to families struggling to buy food and clothing for their children.

How you can help children in Afghanistan

• With $80 you could help to provide 150 sachets of therapeutic food to help bring a child back from severe malnutrition.


• With $165 you could help to provide six weeks of cash assistance for a family.


• With $230 you could help to supply a health center with 480 vaccine doses to protect children against measles and polio.

UNICEF is there before, during, and after an emergency. When others leave, we stay.

Please, donate now to help provide life-saving care to children and families in Afghanistan.

In the unlikely event that UNICEF receives more funds than required to respond to the emergency in Afghanistan, your gift will help support UNICEF’s work to support children in emergencies around the world.