The Red Zone Crisis

Conflict, drought and unrest in four countries - Yemen, Afghanistan, Somalia and Liberia - have forced one and a half million girls and boys into the red zone in alarming rates. This means that they are suffering from dire hunger and urgently need our help.

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Children are being hit the hardest. A combination of water scarcity, conflict, climate change, population displacement and the deliberate destruction of much-needed infrastructure are all contributing to this malnutrition crisis. In Yemen, a child dies every 10 minutes from preventable causes like malnutrition. In Liberia, a staggering 1 in 3 children is malnourished.

These are dire statistics but it doesn’t have to be this way. There is hope for children in Yemen, Somalia, Liberia and Afghanistan. There is something powerful you can do: donate to help UNICEF teams deliver life-saving treatment for malnutrition.

Your emergency donation can give children:

Micro-nutrient powder, when added to food gives children a boost of important vitamins and minerals
Therapeutic milk, a life-saving alternative when mother's are unable to product breast milk
Life-saving 'peanut butter', specially formulated with nutrients children need to survive and grow

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How your donation can help save the lives of children in the red zone, like Doa’a

Our teams met Doa’a when she arrived at a UNICEF-funded nutrition centre in Yemen with her mother, Zahra. She was in the red-zone, suffering from severe acute malnutrition (SAM). Her mother Zahra was also severely malnourished and therefore unable to breastfeed, leaving Doa’a without the vital nutrients breastmilk provides. Zahra was even forced to sell her jewellery to pay for the hour-long journey to the centre.

I was doubtful that Doa'a would return home"

- Zahra, Doa'a's Mother

UNICEF-supported nutrition centres provide emergency food to bring children back to the green-zone meaning they’re a safe weight and share health and nutrition information with families so that they can monitor progress and avoid relapse.

Thanks to supporters like you, Doa’a was able to receive urgent treatment and in as little as six weeks, she made a full recovery. An incredible 92 per cent of malnourished children make a full recovery once they receive the proper treatment.

So far, UNICEF has helped Doa’a and 346,000 children in Yemen and aims to treat another 360,000 children suffering from severe malnutrition in Yemen alone.

Explaining UNICEF's MUAC Band: The red zone means a child has Severe Acute Malnutrition and needs urgent care. The Yellow Zone means a child is malnourished, and needs immediate treatment in order to stay out of the Red Zone and move back into the Green. The Green Zone means a child is healthy, although during disaster and crises children are always at-risk of not receiving proper nutrition.

The Four Countries Near Crisis

Afghanistan

Afghanistan has been devastated by ongoing conflict, worsened by a prolonged drought. UNICEF is providing education for mother's on proper nutrition, supporting supplemental feeding programs in hospitals, and is the only aid organisation here providing treatment for severe acute malnutrition.

Somalia

Ahmed, three years old, receives a packet of life-saving therapeutic food used to treat severe acute malnutrition at a UNICEF-supported mobile nutrition clinic. Over 200,000 children received treatment for severe acute malnutrition from UNICEF and partners in Somalia last year.

Yemen

UNICEF is one of the few aid organisations on the ground in Yemen providing treatment to malnourished children. We have screened 390,000 children under the age of five for malnutrition and continue to provide urgent care to the severely malnourished children needing specialised treatment.

Liberia

Two devastating civil wars have left most of Liberia's population unable to afford basic human necessities including food and water. This has meant that one in three children are now chronically malnourished. UNICEF's field staff are working hard to provide therapeutic food, micronutrients, and education on nutrition.

How else is UNICEF helping children facing life-threatening malnutrition?

We're focused on simple, cost-effective solutions. Just 53c buys one sachet of life-saving food

An incredible 92% of children make a full recovery when they're reached with proper nutritional treatment

80% of the worlds life-saving food is provided by UNICEF - more than any other organisation

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UNICEF teams are working tirelessly right now to save lives but they depend on your support to keep going. UNICEF receives no funding from the UN budget and relies on donations from generous supporters like you to continue our valuable work. Be there for a child facing deadly hunger. Make a donation to UNICEF today to stop malnutrition in its tracks.

We cannot do this without you. Please give generously now.

Your donation will help fund UNICEF's urgent work for children wherever the need is greatest - including children facing malnutrition crisis in Yemen, Somalia, Afghanistan and Liberia

The Red Zone Crisis

Your emergency donation can give children:

How your donation can help save the lives of children in the red zone, like Doa’a

The Four Countries Near Crisis

Afghanistan

Somalia

Yemen

Liberia

How else is UNICEF helping children facing life-threatening malnutrition?

This is how we use your donation