With conflict and climate emergencies intensifying, humanitarian crises are becoming more severe and complex. Over 300 million people are estimated to be in need of humanitarian assistance in 2025.

In the first 11 months of 2024, Save the Children responded to 96 emergencies in 77 countries, reaching 15.9 million people.

Keep scrolling to see how your support has enabled us to help children caught up in emergencies, especially in protracted and ‘forgotten’ crises.

Childhood in Gaza has been completely shattered.

After 15 months of relentless war in Gaza, a pause in hostilities has finally been agreed, offering children a glimmer of hope. For more than 17,800 children who lost their lives, it’s too late. But for more than one million children facing hunger, disease, cold and fear, this is a chance for them to survive and recover.

Since the war began, we’ve been providing as much support as we can to children in Gaza through our staff and partners.

In 2024, we helped almost 688,300 people in Gaza with cash, food, water and warm clothes, as well as offering lifesaving healthcare and mental health support. We also helped more than 27,400 people in the West Bank with cash, essential items and mental health support.

Working alongside local partners, our teams stand ready to rapidly increase our support to children and families whose lives have been torn apart by this war.

With 96% of schools damaged or destroyed, we stand ready to support the rebuilding of Gaza’s education system. We are setting up temporary learning spaces in pre-existing shelters, as well as mobile play and learning options to assist children and families on the move as they head back to their homes.

We aim to help more than 1.1 million people in the occupied Palestinian territory in 2025, including 914,400 people in Gaza and 206,448 people in the West Bank. We will:

• Provide primary healthcare, such as vaccinations, and treatment for malnutrition 
• Provide individual support  for particularly vulnerable children – such as unaccompanied, separated or injured children
• Set up temporary learning spaces and support children's early learning, literacy and numeracy
• Provide essential items, like tents, bedding, warm clothes and basic cooking items, to families who’ve lost everything 
• Deliver safe drinking water in trucks and bottles, and helping repair water sources and improve sanitation
• Providing cash transfers to families and food to children and families on the brink of famine

Children have now endured close to three years of loss, bombardment and displacement.

The full-scale war, which started on 24 February 2022, has changed the lives of 7.5 million children in Ukraine forever. Over the past 1,000 days of war, children have been killed and maimed and had their entire childhoods ripped away from them. They’ve lost loved ones and friends, they’ve had to flee their homes in the dark of night and have endured countless hours sheltering in corridors, basements and subways.

In 2024 there was a significant increase in airstrikes across Ukraine, which led to a 40% spike in child casualties. As a result, more children were killed or injured in the first nine months of 2024 than in the entirety of 2023.

Since the start of the war our team in Ukraine has reached over 3.44 million people - including around 1.4 million children.

Throughout 2025, we will continue to advocate for all parties to adhere to their obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law.

The aim is to ensure that civilians and civilian objects, especially those impacting children such as homes, schools, and hospitals, are protected from attack.

A ceasefire deal brings welcome relief in Lebanon, but the humanitarian situation remains dire.

A year of conflict in Lebanon and two months of intensified violence from September to November 2024 resulted in 3,000 lives lost and over one million people displaced within this brief period alone.

While the conditional ceasefire in Lebanon offers hope, children and families need support more than ever.

Save the Children has supported more than 175,000 people in Lebanon since October 2023, including more than 70,00 children and will continue our support throughout 2025.

A well-resourced, coordinated, and principled humanitarian response is critical, with education, child protection, and mental health support prioritised as part of the first phase of lifesaving interventions.

We will work hard to ensure every child has access to the assistance and critical services they need to survive and thrive.

We are committed to meeting the needs of children, wherever they are. In 2025 we will continue to work side-by-side with local and national partners to help communities prepare better, respond faster and rebuild stronger.

We will continue to respond to 'forgotten' humanitarian crises that garner relatively little media coverage and face severe underfunding.

Keep scrolling to read more about these emergencies and how we're responding.

Burkina Faso is facing the worst humanitarian crisis in its history, with 5.5 million people in need of urgent assistance - 3.2 million children.

Extreme poverty, violence, food insecurity, climate disasters, gender-based violence and early marriage are hallmarks of many children's lives in Burkina Faso.

It is one of the world's most neglected crises, with just 45% of funding secured to meet the country's humanitarian needs in 2024.

Since the outbreak of the humanitarian crisis in 2019, we have been supporting children and their families in eight of the country's thirteen regions. In 2025 we will continue this support and advocate for the following:

• Increased humanitarian funding
• Improving humanitarian access
• Continuing efforts for a peaceful resolution to the conflict

After years of protracted crisis, Sudan was plunged into full-scale conflict when fighting erupted in April 2023, forcing 11.3 million people from their homes.

Widespread famine has accelerated the humanitarian crisis in Sudan, reaching a displacement camp in North Darfur in August 2024 and expanding to two more in December. The famine is projected to persist in these areas and further expand into five more North Darfur localities by May 2025.

Save the Children are one of the largest NGOs in Sudan, providing a range of services to protect children's lives and rights. We are currently working in 12 out of the 18 Sudanese states, and have been providing critical support to children in neighboring countries, like South Sudan and Egypt.

It is estimated that over 63% of the population in Sudan will require humanitarian assistance in 2025.

We're calling for increased funding. Before the current conflict, Sudan was an extremely underfunded crisis. Needs are soaring, and children are bearing the brunt of an unprecedented protection crisis. While the $2.1 billion committed by international donors at the Paris conference in April 2024 is a welcome first step, we must see these commitments turned into action immediately. 

The recent transition of power in Syria, following the offensive launched by opposition groups, has created a historic opportunity for children and families. While it isn’t clear yet what the future holds, there’s hope for a brighter future, after years of hardship and suffering.

However, this significant change has occurred at a time when humanitarian needs have never been higher in Syria:

• 16.7 million people (almost 3 in 4) need support, an estimated 45% are children
• Over 2.5 million children were internally displaced within Syria, at the beginning of 2024
• 500,000 children under five suffer from chronic malnutrition
• An estimated 2.4 million children are out of school

Save the Children is committed to continuing to support the lives and rights of children and families in Syria to help pave the way for a brighter, prosperous future. Above all, in the days ahead, the needs, rights and protection of children, regardless of their gender, age, ethnicity or religion, or where they live, must be prioritised.

Yemen has been facing a humanitarian crisis for almost nine years, as a result of the prolonged
armed conflict, which has exacerbated the already dire economic situation and led to widespread disruptions of vital public services. The war has caused significant loss of life and injury, as well as displacement of large numbers of people. The UN-brokered truce agreed upon in 2022 has led to a decrease in civilian casualties, but limited improvement of humanitarian conditions.

Out of a total 32.6 million people in Yemen, an estimated 18.2 million people are estimated to require humanitarian assistance, 53% of which are children.

When the conflict in Yemen started in 2015, Save the Children significantly increased its response and reached over 9 million children with lifesaving interventions in areas such as health, nutrition, water and sanitation, education and protection services.

Despite being one of the most significant crises in the world, funding for Yemen has remained low, with the 2024 Humanitarian Response Plan being only 52% funded. This affects our response in vital sectors such as education and child protection. Fully funding the response in Yemen is essential to ensure that aid agencies have the capacity to continue providing lifesaving assistance for the most vulnerable groups.