[ad_1]
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on Thursday issued its largest appeal for emergency funds of $ 6.4 billion for next year (2021), to reach 300 million people, including 190 million children. According to UNICEF, the 2021 appeal for funds is 35 percent more than the funds requested for 2020. The top five appeals for funding requirements for 2021 are for Syrian refugees ($ 1 billion), Yemen ($ 576.9 million) , the Democratic Republic of the Congo (USD 384.4 million), Syria (USD 330.8 million) and Venezuela (USD 201.8 million).
Today we are faced with a child rights emergency in which COVID-19 and other crises combine to deprive children of their health and well-being. This unprecedented situation demands an equally unprecedented response.
– Henrietta H. Fore (@unicefchief) December 3, 2020
READ | UNICEF: HIV and AIDS treatment interrupted by COVID-19 pandemic, pediatric services affected
The UN Children’s Fund issues an emergency appeal to donors
UNICEF urges our donors to join us so that together we can help the world’s children through these darkest times and prevent a lost generation. https://t.co/lBLXTdCZB7
– Henrietta H. Fore (@unicefchief) December 3, 2020
The UNICEF statement also reported that the coronavirus pandemic has disrupted routine immunization services for children in more than 60 countries. He also said that nearly 250 million students around the world are still affected by COVID-19 school closings. Noting the current difficult time, UNICEF said economic instability has disrupted essential services and has also made it difficult for families to make ends meet. Economic instability due to the pandemic has also increased the risk of domestic and gender-based violence, he added.
READ | The UN and Ethiopia sign an agreement for aid access to Tigray
Noting the new humanitarian crisis that has emerged this year, the United Nations said the conflict in Ethiopia’s Tigray region has left an estimated 2.8 million people in urgent need of assistance. The UN publication also showed that reports of killings, kidnappings, recruitment and use of children as soldiers are increasing by the day. The statement also stated that COVID-19 has made protracted emergencies worse in countries such as Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Libya, South Sudan, Ukraine and Venezuela.
READ | United Nations warns Ethiopia’s Tigray region could be left without aid amid conflict
Stating that the number of weather-related disasters has tripled in the last 30 years, UNICEF said this has resulted in a threat to food security, increased water shortages, forced people to leave their homes, increased risk of conflict and public health. emergencies. Giving examples of some weather-related disasters and the destruction caused by them, UNICEF said that powerful storms have largely devastated vulnerable communities in Central America. These storms have affected more than 2.6 million children in Central America. The storms in East Asia have affected 13.4 million children in the Philippines, Vietnam and Cambodia.
READ | Priyanka Chopra celebrates 20 years with UNICEF and says ‘giving back should be a way of life’
(With ANI inputs)
[ad_2]
