East Asia and Pacific Region Appeal
Humanitarian Action for Children
UNICEF’s Humanitarian Action for Children appeal helps support the agency’s work as it provides conflict- and disaster-affected children with access to water, sanitation, nutrition, education, health and protection services. Return to main appeal page.
Appeal highlights
- East Asia and the Pacific remains the most disaster-prone region in the world. In 2023, theregion experienced cyclones, floods, landslides, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and drought as well as civil and intercommunal conflict. The El Niño weather phenomenon is predicted to increase extreme weather events and slow-onset disasters in the region, compounding the already significant impacts of climate change.
- UNICEF supports country offices, governments and partners to manage disaster risk by strengthening emergency preparedness, building local and national capacities and providing technical expertise for child-sensitive, gender-sensitive and disability-inclusive humanitarian action. UNICEF maintains an agile system to rapidly deploy funding and technical personnel to respond to sudden-onset events.
- UNICEF is seeking $75.8 million to respond to critical needs in 2024, including for emergency response and preparedness, and for programming to strengthen disaster risk reduction, conflict-sensitivity and climate resilience. Twenty-four countries and territories are directly covered by this regional appeal.
Key statistics
11.8 million children missed first dose of measles vaccine
1.5 million children affected by severe wasting
81 million people lack basic water services
64 million people affected by disasters in Asia-Pacific
Funding requirements for 2024
Regional needs and strategy
Humanitarian needs
East Asia and the Pacific remains the most disaster-prone region in the world. Children born in the region today are experiencing six times as many climate-related disasters as their grandparents. More than 210 million children are highly exposed to cyclones; 140 million to water scarcity; and 120 million to coastal flooding. Several countries situated along the Pacific Ring of Fire are prone to earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis. Climate change-induced disasters pose an increasingly serious threat to the region in the form of more frequent and intense cyclones, floods and droughts. Climate change is also contributing to the increased frequency and intensity of heatwaves, leading to more cases of heat stroke and dehydration among children. Climate change is also facilitating the spread of waterborne and vector-borne diseases, including diarrhoeal illnesses and dengue.
In 2023, cyclones and severe storms impacted Myanmar, Vanuatu and the Philippines while the larger region also experienced floods, landslides, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, drought, disease outbreaks and civil and intercommunal conflict.
The El Niño weather phenomenon is predicted to strengthen through 2023 into 2024, increasing extreme weather events. It is expected to intensify drought conditions in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Timor Leste and Viet Nam. This will likely exacerbate food shortages and water scarcity and compound conflict dynamics in some areas. El Niño also brings increased risk of flooding and heightened cyclone activity across the Pacific region. Women and children impacted by these events face higher risks of malnutrition and disrupted access to education and other essential services.
Protracted conflict and civil unrest continue to displace people from their homes and disrupt their access to basic services, including in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea and in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao in the Philippines. Deepening civil conflict in Myanmar is creating increasing numbers of refugees, with growing humanitarian needs, in particular along the Thailand-Myanmar border.
Disruption of basic services due to humanitarian crises, including health, education and social services, significantly exacerbates protection risks children face and heightens the risk of harmful practices affecting children’s well-being. Girls and children with disabilities are particularly vulnerable.
UNICEF’s strategy
Across the region, with technical assistance from the UNICEF East Asia and Pacific Regional Office, UNICEF country offices will focus on enhancing their own emergency preparedness and response capabilities, as well as those of their government counterparts and civil society and private sector partners. This will be done through establishing adequate preparedness measures and strengthening systems for child-sensitive and child-inclusive humanitarian action, in line with the Core Commitments for Children in Humanitarian Action.
Country offices will swiftly initiate life-saving emergency support to children and their families in the areas of health, nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), child protection, psychosocial support, education and cash assistance. At the same time, they will continue to provide technical leadership and coordination across multiple sectors/clusters. The Regional Office will maintain systems to rapidly deploy funding and technical capacity to respond to sudden-onset emergencies across the region.
To strengthen programming within the humanitarian–development–peacebuilding nexus, UNICEF will analyse multidimensional risks and threats to children; integrate disaster risk reduction and climate change strategies into both humanitarian and development plans; and build inclusive shock-responsive social protection systems.
Working across sectors to holistically address the needs of children with disabilities, adolescents, women and girls in humanitarian settings, UNICEF will focus on addressing gender-based violence and enhancing accountability to affected populations and protection from sexual exploitation and abuse. Digital technology and innovative approaches promoting age, gender and disability inclusion will be used to ensure continuity and accessibility of services.
To ensure greater accountability, UNICEF will continue to evaluate its humanitarian work and advance knowledge management and evidence-based innovations.
Find out more about UNICEF's work
Highlights
Humanitarian Action is at the core of UNICEF’s mandate to realize the rights of every child. This edition of Humanitarian Action for Children – UNICEF’s annual humanitarian fundraising appeal – describes the ongoing crises affecting children in East Asia and the Pacific; the strategies that we are using to respond to these situations; and the donor support that is essential in this response.