Syria Children's Crisis

EMERGENCY UPDATE: 10th December

With the situation in Syria evolving rapidly in recent days, UNICEF is calling for sustained peace and protection for all Syrians - especially children.

After more than 13 years of war, millions of people are facing extreme hardship. The deadly conflict has damaged critical infrastructure, caused widespread displacement and severely limited access to essential services - including safe water, sanitation, health, nutrition, protection and education.

UNICEF is committed to remaining on the ground in Syria, working alongside our partners to deliver life-saving assistance to children and their families.

Syrian children have suffered enough. They deserve a future of peace, dignity, and opportunity.

If you can help, please make a donation today. Your donation can help desperate Syrian children and save lives.

Donors are helping save lives in Syria

When baby Nemr got sick, his worried mum took him to a UNICEF-supported health and nutrition centre to get checked out.

The family are struggling to survive in Syria. It’s become even more difficult after two magnitude 7 earthquakes in 2023.

“Repairing our house after the earthquake has added a heavy financial burden on our shoulders, and we can’t always provide Nemr with healthy food,” says Nemr's mum.

Unfortunately, Nemr was diagnosed with acute malnutrition which would need specialised treatment to get him healthy again. But thankfully, UNICEF donors have come to the rescue to provide much needed treatment for malnourished kids like Nemr.

To treat his malnutrition, little Nemr was given ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) to eat. This peanut paste is full of all the nutrients, vitamins and proteins that hungry children need to make a speedy recovery from malnutrition.

“I appreciate the food supplements that my son received to treat his malnutrition” says Nemr’s mum gratefully.

So far in 2024, UNICEF donors have helped screen more than 1 million Syrian kids for malnutrition. And provided life-saving treatment for 8,685 (5,098 girls) malnourished kids, like Nemr.

How will my donation help?

Your donation helps our teams on the ground working to distribute life-saving supplies and provide critical services to those most in need. This includes health supplies and medicines, life-saving vaccines, safe drinking water and sanitation, therapeutic food, blankets, clothing and tents.

You're also helping us support safe spaces for children to continue to learn, play and recover from the traumatic events they’ve experienced. 

Your support means we can remain on the ground in Syria, working hard for as long as it takes to ensure children are safe and have their essential needs meet.

Please support us to help as many children as possible in Syria.

How’s UNICEF been helping kids in Syria?

We've been in Syria since the 1970s and we're not going anywhere. Every day is spent working hard for children affected by this crisis - meeting their immediate needs, as well as focusing on long-term sustainable change to protect their futures.

Here’s a look at UNICEF's work in the first half of 2024:

• Together with our partners, we supported over 4.6 million people, including 2.7 million children during the last 6 momths.
• More than 1.1 million children accessed primary healthcare via 86 fixed clinics and 62 mobile teams.
• We provided solar power to 44 Primary Health Care facilities and sourced 146 solar powered refrigerators for vaccine storage. These will be installed by the end of 2024.
• We reached 1,132,460 people (487,818 children and 606,358 pregnant and lactating women) with nutrition services.
• Almost 600,00 children were supported to continue their education. We also rehabilitated and repaired 341 classrooms and provided gender-sensitive and disability-inclusive water, hygiene and sanitation facilities in the rehabilitated schools.
• We were able to ensure continuous safe water to support more than 14 million people.
• Improved sanitation services were provided for 485,038 people.

Why donate to UNICEF? 

UNICEF’s work is 100% donor funded. We rely on the generosity of people like you to deliver life-saving help and supplies to kids in 192 countries and territories around the world.  

We’ve been on the ground in Syria for more than 50 years. We’re there for children before, during and after emergencies, ready to deliver urgent help where it’s needed most. During this devastating crisis, we’re working around the clock to protect the health and welfare of children. 

Every year UNICEF responds to over 300 emergencies around the world. We have a global network of supply hubs - and with your help we can continue to be there for children when they need it most. 

Other ways you can donate

If you'd like to donate over the phone, call our friendly team on 0800 243 575. 

If you'd like to donate direct to our bank account, please use account 01-0505-0463764-00 and code 'syrcc-ws'. 

Other ways you can help:

Help us spread awareness of the situation for kids in Syria by sharing this appeal with your friends and family. 

If you'd like to fundraise with your community to support our work, you can start a fundraiser here.