Documents

UNICEF Annual Report 2015 highlights results achieved for and with children and young people across the full continuum of humanitarian action and development work. It takes stock of UNICEF activities in all programme areas during 2015, underscoring the organization's commitment to providing a fair chance for every child - especially the most disadvantaged. The report outlines UNICEF's efforts in a year marked by numerous humanitarian emergencies, including the global migrant and refugee crisis. It also emphasizes the role that UNICEF and partners played in making sure that children's rights were at the heart of the new global goals adopted at the United Nations in September 2015.

\ \ \ \ \ UNICEF's strong field presence and scope of work across multiple sectors give it wide reach to support women's and girls' empowerment and more equitable male-female relations.

\ \ \ \ \ The scale and complexity of humanitarian crises continued to increase in 2015. Protracted conflicts affected a growing number of children and families during the year and humanitarian situations increasingly spilled over borders and into subregional displacement crises.

\ \ \ \ \ More than 5.6 million children at risk were prevented and/or withdrawn from child labour through one or more education, social protection or child protection interventions in 30 countries, which marks a 24 per cent increase from 4.5 million children reached in 2014.

\ \ \ \ \ Since 1990, 2.6 billion people have gained access to an improved drinking water source and 2.1 billion have gained access to an improved sanitation facility through the collective efforts of sector stakeholders.

\ \ \ \ \ The substantial progress that has led to 100 million more children in school since the year 2000 has struggled to keep pace with population growth over the past decade, leaving 59 million primary-school-aged children and 65 million who are of lower secondary school age out of school.

\ \ \ \ \ Global estimates indicate that the number of stunted children under age 5 declined from 169 million in 2010 to 159 million children in 2014. The global momentum for scaling up nutrition is growing, and many countries are making progress in reducing malnutrition in all its forms.

\ \ \ UNICEF's health programming in 2015 aimed to support the overarching goal of the Strategic Plan of “improved and equitable use of high-impact maternal and child health interventions from pregnancy to adolescence and the promotion of healthy behaviours.”

Helping to shape work around children and AIDS for years to come, UNICEF in 2015 advocated for the inclusion of women, children and adolescents affected by HIV and AIDS in the strategic planning processes of the UNAIDS Secretariat and its 11 United Nations co-sponsoring agencies.