3.4 million children in Pakistan need ‘immediate, lifesaving support’ after floods: UNICEF | CNN

Islamabad, Pakistan
CNN
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“Superfloods” in Pakistan have left 3.4 million children in need of “immediate, life-saving assistance,” according to UNICEF.

Flooding – caused by record monsoon rains and one minister calling it “the The worst human disaster in a decade” – has affected a total of 16 million children, UNICEF Pakistan representative Abdullah Fadel said after visiting the country’s southern province of Sindh this week.

The estimate came as the country’s National Disaster Management Authority updated the death toll from the floods since mid-June to 1,545, including 552 children.

Meanwhile, officials in the country have warned that the number is likely to rise as deaths are reported to be decreasing and diseases such as dengue fever are on the rise.

Ezra Pechuho, the health minister of southern Sindh province – one of the worst-hit areas where many schools and other facilities are closed – said there was now an “emergency situation” due to the large amount of standing water there. Provides excellent growth. Aedes mosquito conditions for transmission of dengue virus.

UNICEF’s Fazil said the situation on the ground in Sindh was “more than bleak” with many malnourished children battling diarrhoea, malaria and other diseases. dengue fever, As well as painful skin conditions.

“Girls and boys in Pakistan are paying the price for the climate disaster, not because of it,” Fadel said.

“Young children are living in the open with their families who have no drinking water, no food and no livelihood – facing a wide range of new flood-related risks and hazards,” Fadel said. Fadel said. Mothers, many exhausted, anemic and malnourished, were unable to even breastfeed their babies.

“Critical infrastructure … has been destroyed and damaged, including thousands of schools, water systems and health facilities,” he added.