The world has seen “stunning” gains in child survival and health, according to The New York Times’ Tina Rosenberg in a recent column citing UNICEF’s work. Her article shares heartening results from a new study called the Global Burden of Disease report. Among them: over the past 20 years, the mortality rate for children under five has dropped worldwide, in some countries by as much as 70 percent.

This month, the IKEA Foundation and UNICEF are celebrating over ten years of working together to improve the lives of more than 74 million children and their families in India. In collaboration with the government of India, the IKEA Foundation and UNICEF India have contributed to major improvements in the lives of children over the past decade.

In September 2011, two months after famine was officially declared in the Horn of Africa by the United Nations, Freelance journalist Abdi Aziiz Abdi Nur was in the southern region of Somalia—the hardest-hit area. He reports on what he experienced then, and how now—almost a year later— the situation has changed. He also meets up with five-year-old Abdi again, who was being treated for severe malnutrition when Nur first met him last year.

If you’ve been visiting our website, you know we’ve written a lot about the ongoing food crisis in the Sahel. A million children’s lives are at risk, and UNICEF and partners are working tirelessly to help them survive. But if you’re like me, you’ve probably wondered what that work on the ground actually looks like.
We recently received photos from Mauritania, and we thought we would share them with you, so you can take a closer look at UNICEF’s work in the field.

I recently had the opportunity to organize a roundtable discussion on the emergency in the Sahel region of Africa. The event, co-hosted by the U.S. Fund for UNICEF and the Corporate Council on Africa, provided corporate participants an overview of the crisis and the impact of the drought and malnutrition on the region. Guillaume Sauval, Emergency Specialist at UNICEF’s Office of Emergency Programs, explained that the causes of hunger and malnutrition in the region are deeply rooted, with chronic underdevelopment and multiple droughts in recent years leaving the population vulnerable, even to small shocks.

This week America celebrates its independence. But many people in the world do not even enjoy the most basic freedoms, like having a place to live, food to eat, clean water to drink and access to healthcare. If you’ve been visiting our website, you know that the Sahel region in Africa is a place where even the most basic needs for survival are not being met. UNICEF has been tracking the situation in Mali and the rest of the Sahel region and is doing everything it can to save the children and families of Mali. Here is some of the work that UNICEF has been doing.