Anthony Henry/Contributor

The United Kingdom has directed £850,000 to UNICEF to help protect children affected by Hurricane Melissa, funding essential water and sanitation services, child protection, psychosocial support, and early childhood education recovery.

Earlier this month, UK Minister for the Caribbean Chris Elmore visited UNICEF’s mobile child-friendly spaces in St Elizabeth, where he met children attending emergency learning and play sessions as part of trauma-reduction programmes. The spaces provide counselling, creative engagement, and structured support for children who lost homes, caregivers, or access to school.

Elmore told UK Parliament earlier this week, that children were disproportionately affected by Melissa, with nearly 60 per cent of early-childhood institutions in the hardest-hit parishes either severely damaged or operating in compromised conditions.

“The damage to schools is not just physical it’s emotional and developmental,” he said.

The UK funding will assist with rehabilitating early learning facilities, providing temporary classrooms and learning materials, deploying psychologists and child-protection officers, restoring safe water access in schools and child spaces, and supporting hygiene and sanitation services to prevent disease outbreaks.

UNICEF teams are also coordinating with Jamaica’s Ministry of Education and Youth to gradually reintegrate children into stable school environments as communities rebuild.

Elmore emphasised that the investment is designed not only to address immediate needs but to strengthen systems for future shocks.

“Jamaica’s children deserve security, continuity, and support as they heal,” he said. “This funding helps make that possible.”