Pic: Bikram Rai
More than three million Nepali children might suffer from various diseases – or even die – during this winter due to shortages of fuel, food, medicines and vaccines, UNICEF warned on Monday.
Stating that vital imports of essential commodities have been severely restricted at Nepal’s southern border due to unrest over the country’s new constitution, the UN child rights body has stressed on the need to protect children from disease, cold and hunger. It has also urged all sides to address the restrictions on essential imports of supplies to Nepal.
“There is no time to lose,” UNICEF warned.
More than 200,000 earthquakes-affected families are still living in temporary shelters at an altitude above 1,500 metres where weather conditions will be harsher this winter, and UNICIF says children still recovering from earthquakes could be the worst hit.
“The risks of hypothermia and malnutrition, and the shortfall in life-saving medicines and vaccines, could be a potentially deadly combination for children this winter,” said Anthony Lake, UNICEF’s Executive Director.
UNICEF has also cautioned that there could be a spike in cases of pneumonia as Nepalis are now becoming increasingly more dependent on firewood because of the shortage of cooking gas. Last year pneumonia had killed around 5,000 Nepali children under the age of five.
The government’s regional medical stores have already run out of BCG vaccines against tuberculosis, and stocks of other vaccines and antibiotics are critically low, according to UNICEF.
Yea Yea they say and they warn. But what are they doing to prevent this tragedy. Nothing.
Stop the blockage then Nepal and India need to sit down and talk about differences. Blocking a landlocked country is purely illegal.
lets not exaggerate – but the situation is serious for hundreds of thousands of peoplein area affected by quakes and landslides
This is horrible. Almost as horrible is the massive corruption wherein Nepali persons in power stole donations.
what are the solutions