An estimated 48 million children living through some of the
world’s worst conflicts and other humanitarian emergencies will benefit from
UNICEF’s 2017 appeal, which was launched on January 31, reports NaijaAgroNet.
Chief of Communication, UNICEF, Doune Porter, made this
disclosure to NaijaAgroNet, saying that from Syria to Yemen and Iraq, from
South Sudan to Nigeria, children are under direct attack, their homes, schools
and communities in ruins, their hopes and futures hanging in the balance.
“In total, almost one in four of the world’s children lives
in a country affected by conflict or disaster,” she said.
Buttressing this position, she quoted the UNICEF Director of
Emergency Programmes, Manuel Fontaine, as saying that “In country after
country, war, natural disaster and climate change are driving ever more
children from their homes, exposing them to violence, disease and exploitation.”
UNICEF’s Humanitarian Action for Children, Porter pointed
out had set out the agency’s 2017 appeal totaling $3.3 billion, and its goals
in providing children with access to safe water, nutrition, education, health
and protection in 48 countries across the globe. Stressing that an estimated
7.5 million children will face severe acute malnutrition across the majority of
appeal countries, including almost half a million each in northeast Nigeria and
Yemen.
“Malnutrition is a silent threat to millions of children. The
damage it does can be irreversible, robbing children of their mental and
physical potential. In its worst form, severe malnutrition can be deadly,” said
Fontaine.
UNICEF pointed out that the largest single component of the
appeal is for children and families caught up in the Syria conflict, soon to
enter its seventh year. UNICEF is seeking a total of $1.4 billion to support
Syrian children inside Syria and those living as refugees in neighbouring
countries.
Isaac Oyimah/GEE
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