Once again I needed to do something to help with the atrocities in the Ukraine and this time I put my money with UNICEF. They have over 75 years of humanitarian response expertise and I knew my small donation was going to the right place.
A new child refugee every second.
One month since the start of the war in Ukraine on Feb. 24, more than half of Ukraine's estimated 7.5 million children have been displaced. The outflux of people — mostly children and women — fleeing violence in Ukraine dwarfs all other refugee crises of recent years in terms of scale and speed. As of March 24, more than 4 million people — including 1.8 million children — 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 crisis in Ukraine 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' that separates government-controlled areas from non-government-controlled areas.
UNICEF's emergency response teams — who have been 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 broke out Feb. 24, 2022
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. UNICEF has been steadily ramping up support focusing on the hardest-hit areas.
Together with partners, UNICEF continues to scale up emergency operations as the war continues, putting the safety and future well-being of the country's 7.5 million children at grave risk.
UNICEF is committed to sustaining and expanding this critical support, leveraging existing relationships and programmatic presence to reach the most vulnerable — those who remain in Ukraine and those who have fled to neighboring countries.
"It's important to understand what we're dealing with here," UNICEF Spokesperson James Elder said during a March 15 briefing. "A million and a half children have left their homes in Ukraine... Approximately one child has become a refugee every second since the war started."
How UNICEF is helping children in Ukraine
UNICEF's humanitarian work in Ukraine focuses on meeting the most critical urgent needs for safety, health care, safe water and nutrition, protection while also safeguarding children's rights and long term well-being.
Schools and hospitals and critical infrastructure have all been and continue to be frequently targeted by attacks, disrupting and limiting access to 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 has been significantly expanded as UNICEF rushes essential medicines, midwifery kits, surgical kits and other lifesaving supplies to health facilities where women have been giving birth in makeshift basement bunkers since the war started.
More support is urgently needed to help fund UNICEF's response in and around Ukraine as the situation for children and families continues to deteriorate.
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