UNICEF turns 70

The United Nations General Assembly set up UNICEF to help the starving and impoverished children in post-war Europe. Back then, health and food were major concerns. But even in 2015, almost three million children worldwide were being treated for severe malnutrition, according to UN figures. The above photo dates back to the founding year, and shows giggling, but hungry, youngsters in Greece.

By 1955, the world’s largest children’s organization was working for children in more than 90 countries. Above, a toddler in Ecuador in 1958 is being tested for malaria - a major cause of child mortality, then and today. UNICEF has since become a founding member of the Roll Back Malaria Partnership to support malaria treatment and research.

The UN, in 1959, defined children’s rights to protection, education, health care, shelter and good nutrition in the "Declaration of the Rights of the Child." In Mozambique, these kids enjoy recess time at a "child-friendly" school UNICEF helped support, where the focus is not just on teaching, but also on sanitation, social welfare and communication.

Recognizing work for children as work for peace, the UN children's emergency fund was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1965 for the "promotion of brotherhood among nations." Above, Executive Director Henry Labouisse accepts the award in Oslo. Despite the commendation, the agency hasn't been spared its share of scandals involving fraud and bribery over the decades.

UNICEF has responded to thousands of humanitarian emergencies affecting children. The vision for the next 70 years is "a world in which our work is no longer necessary - a world in which every child is healthy, safe, educated, cared for and protected and all children can make the most of their potential," said UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake.

UNICEF launched its first water, sanitation and hygiene programs back in 1953. Since then, almost three billion people have been given access to improved drinking water sources and sanitation facilities. Above, school children in Bangladesh are shown how to properly scrub their hands.

Millions of children, like these school girls in Pakistan, have access to an education thanks to UNICEF, which reports it has helped reduce out-of-school rates among primary school children by more than 40 percent since 1990.

An estimated one in four children worldwide - or some 535 million - live in areas affected by conflict or disaster, UNICEF said in December 2016. It also reports that almost 50 million children worldwide have been uprooted, - "a disproportionate and growing proportion of those who have sought refuge outside their countries of birth."

Youngsters use their bodies and various objects to spell 'construire", Italian for "to build" - they feel it's time to build a new generation with better values. A 2014 UNICEF report showed that 2.6 million children that year had sunk below the poverty line in the world's most affluent countries.