United Nations Children’s Fund

United Nations Children’s Fund

Introduction to United Nations Children’s Fund

United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) organization founded by the United Nations in 1946 to provide food, clothing, and rehabilitative programs to European children brutalized by World War II (1939-1945). In 1950 the United Nations made UNICEF responsible for improving the welfare of all children worldwide. The organization’s mission is threefold: (1) to ensure that basic nutrition, health, and education needs of children are met, (2) to give children the opportunity to expand their potential, and (3) to create an international ethical standard of behavior toward children.

Since 1950 UNICEF has focused primarily on promoting “sustainable development” in more than 150 developing nations. By providing community-based services to teach community leaders to build wells and sewage-disposal systems, UNICEF has helped provide millions of children with clean drinking water and sanitary living conditions. By training educators to develop effective school programs, the agency has enabled children around the world to benefit from a primary school education. In recognition of its efforts, UNICEF received the 1965 Nobel Peace Prize.

UNICEF also provides a relief network for children and their parents or other caregivers in the aftermath of disasters, such as floods, earthquakes, and droughts. It has worked extensively with children from war-torn countries to help alleviate their suffering. The organization works to prevent child abuse, child labor, sexual exploitation of children, and the use of children as soldiers. In the United States, UNICEF has focused its work on inner-city children victimized by random violence and gang warfare.

UNICEF has provided immunizations to millions of children against potentially fatal diseases, such as diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, measles, polio, and tuberculosis. UNICEF’s promotion of basic health-care delivery systems and treatments, such as rehydration therapy for children suffering from diarrhea, has also contributed to dramatic reductions in child mortality. In response to the global epidemic of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), UNICEF works to prevent the transmission of AIDS and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in young people and to obtain medicine for infected individuals. It also helps communities, especially those in sub-Saharan Africa, care for the millions of children orphaned by the death of their parents from AIDS.

UNICEF receives financial support from more than 150 national governments. Like many international aid organizations, however, UNICEF faces shrinking government subsidies for the work it performs. UNICEF’s challenge in the years ahead is to attract a greater percentage of its funding from foundations, corporations, and individuals to ensure its programs can continue.” (1)

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Notes and References

Guide to United Nations Children’s Fund


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