UNICEF: Four Children Die from Pneumonia and Cold in Earthquake-Hit Kunar
Tawazon – The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), has reported that four young children have died from pneumonia and cold in Afghanistan’s earthquake-affected areas of Kunar, where families continue to live in temporary shelters with limited protection against freezing temperatures.
According to Dr. Tajudeen Oyewale, UNICEF Representative in Afghanistan, the children, Taqwa, a three-year-old boy, Usmani , a nine-month-old girl from the Shulat Valley; and Zakira, aged two and a half, and Abdullah, an eight-month-old boy from Mama Gul Valley in Nurgal district, died over the weekend from cold and pneumonia. Their families had lost their homes in the recent earthquakes and were living in temporary shelters.
UNICEF says that nearly 270,000 children in Afghanistan’s earthquake-hit northern and eastern regions remain at high risk of cold-related diseases. Nighttime temperatures are already falling below freezing and can plunge to minus twenty-five degrees Celsius.
UNICEF Representative in Afghanistan said that he is deeply concerned about the health and safety of children whose homes were destroyed and who now face winter in temporary shelters. “These deaths were preventable,” he said, urging immediate action.
The agency called on international partners and donors to step up support so that UNICEF can deliver lifesaving winter supplies, including warm clothing, blankets, heating assistance and continud access to health, nutrition, water and protection services.
The powerful earthquake that struck eastern Afghanistan nearly three months ago caused widespread destruction, killing almost 2,000 people and destroying thousands of homes.The devastation forced hundreds of families into temporary camps, where harsh winter conditions now pose an additional threat to young children.
