Over Half Million Children at Risk of Drought in Afghanistan: UNICEF
Water scarcity emanated due to lack of rain late last year and early this year has affected the lives of 500,000 children in Afghanistan, according to a UNICEF warning.
Water scarcity emanated due to lack of rain late last year and early this year has affected the lives of 500,000 children in Afghanistan, according to a UNICEF warning.
The impact on the children could be devastating in 22 of the country’s 34 provinces, with 10 worst provinces across Afghanistan, where 20 percent to 30 percent water sources are reportedly dry, threatening the lives of one million people, said UNICEF or the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund in a statement.
An additional two million people could feel its effects over the coming months, the statement said.
“These areas have pre-existing high rates of malnutrition. Without adequate nutritious food and safe water for drinking, as well as for hygiene and sanitation, children’s health will only worsen,” the statement reads.
The impact of the drought couldn’t come at a worse time, as cases of severe acute malnutrition, or seasonal malnutrition, rise on average by about 25 percent each year in the coming summer months.
UNICEF chief in Kabul said children across the country had already faced a lot of problems, and now this entity has to deal with the new challenge.
The UN has previously stated that 13 million people in Afghanistan are now without food security.
