UNICEF Needs $1.4 Billion for Child Emergencies Around the World

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http://www.voanews.com/content/unicef-needs-1-4-billion-for-child-emergencies-around-the-world/1590924.html


Maryam Sy comforts her 2-year-old son Aliou Seyni Diallo, the youngest of nine, after a neighbor gave him dry couscous to stop him from crying with hunger, May 1, 2012.

GENEVA — The U.N. Children's Fund is appealing for $1.4 billion in 2013 to meet the immediate, life-saving needs of tens of millions of children gripped by conflict, natural disasters and other complex emergencies in 45 countries and regions. As in previous years, most of these emergencies are in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Two emergencies are grabbing most of the headlines these days -- Syria and Mali. The U.N. Children’s Fund says the new year has brought nothing but suffering and hardship for millions of Syrian children. Many are homeless within their own country. Others have been forced to flee to neighboring countries in search of refuge.

The United Nations estimates about 60,000 people have been killed since the popular uprising began in Syria nearly two years ago. UNICEF says more than half of the approximately 2.5 million people in need of assistance are children. It says providing the children with water, food, health care and education are among the priority needs.

As for Mali, UNICEF’s Director of the Office of Emergency Programs, Ted Chaiban, expressed great concern about the situation of children in the north, where the fighting between militant Islamist rebels and the government is ongoing.