UNICEF requests additional aid for Afghani women and children

In a report released by UNICEF entitled “Humanitarian Action, Afghanistan - Donor Update Report” $7 million was requested to help aid the women and children of Afghanistan that have suffered from diseases, floods, drought and armed conflict in this past year. UNICEF will spend the funds on medical supplies, tents, educational services, protection and sanitation, reported the IRIN on Thursday.

What is now considered a “complex aid emergency” by aid officials is the result of several factors. First, 7 percent of children are plagued by acute malnutrition with another 54 percent classified as chronically malnourished. Afghanistan has one of the highest maternal and child mortality rates worldwide with one in four children dying before the age of five. Finally, flash flooding and the continued armed conflict has ravaged all of Afghanistan and left more than half of Afghanistan’s primary aged school children with no education services.

Catherine Mbengue, UNICEF representative summarized the problem by stating, “The crisis is not causing new problems. It is aggravating old and current vulnerabilities,"

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