The representative of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Pakistan, Abdullah Fadel, said that more than 4 million children in Pakistan are struggling to survive near polluted and stagnant flood waters, after the floods that hit the country last summer destroyed their homes, and they are suffering. From a harsh winter without a decent shelter.
Fadel added – in a press conference, via video technology from Geneva, today, Tuesday, that the villages have turned into islands, and families are still living under the remnants of plastic in freezing conditions, in the literal sense of the word.
Noting that about 1.6 million children in flood-affected areas were already suffering from severe acute malnutrition, while another six million children were stunted, he warned that this situation could cause irreversible damage to children’s brains, bodies and immune systems.
He explained that (UNICEF) expected the situation to worsen dramatically, noting that international donors pledged at the Geneva conference last week to provide more than $9 billion; To help Pakistan recover from the disaster, he called for children to be at the center of recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts.
He warned that Pakistan is a well-known climate hotspot, and it is only a matter of time before another large-scale climate catastrophe afflicts the country’s children, which calls for flexible financing to redouble efforts today, in addition to long-term investments to address the situation there.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has announced that efforts to combat polio in Sudan have not ended yet, after Sudan declared an epidemic area for the disease.
Sudan was declared a polio endemic area by the Sudanese health authorities, and this was followed by the confirmation of the UNICEF office that the work to combat polio has not ended yet, according to the Sudanese newspaper “Sudan Tribune”.
