NEW YORK, 24th June, 2022 (WAM) — The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is concerned that nearly 8 million children under the age of five in 15 crisis-stricken countries are at risk of dying from acute wasting unless they receive therapeutic food and immediate care, with numbers rising every minute.
UNICEF said in a press release yesterday that the escalating global food crisis since the beginning of the year has forced an additional 260,000 children, “one every 60 seconds”, to suffer severe wasting in 15 countries bearing the brunt of the food crisis, including the Horn of Africa and the Central Sahel, stressing the need to reach these children now with treatment before it is too late.
The organisation indicated that it is intensifying its efforts in the fifteen most affected countries, calling for the provision of US$1.2 billion to provide basic nutrition and care services to avoid the possibility of the death of millions of children.