Islamabad: UNICEF has warned that children in Pakistan’s flood-affected areas are facing severe malnutrition.
UNICEF says more than one in nine children under five admitted to health centers in flood-affected areas of Sindh and Balochistan are severely malnourished.
Health experts have examined more than 22,000 children in flood-affected areas. Of these, more than 2,630 are severely malnourished.
The UN agency said stunting, stunting and weakened immune systems in children are among the problems caused by malnutrition.
According to the latest figures from the National Nutrition Survey, 1.6 million children in the region are malnourished and need urgent treatment.
“We are facing a nutrition emergency that threatens the lives of millions of children. It is heading towards a catastrophic situation that threatens the growth and survival of children. Thanks to the global community for their support so far. But support is still needed to save children’s lives,” said Abdullah Fadil, the UNICEF representative in Pakistan.
More than 40 percent of mothers are anemic. More than 25 million children and women across the country, including more than seven million children and women in flood-affected areas, need immediate access to essential nutrition services.
More than five million people do not have access to safe drinking water sources, and more than six million people do not have sanitation facilities at home.
At the same time, water-borne diarrhoea, malaria, dengue fever, skin diseases, respiratory infections and other diseases are also on the rise, the report said.