Life-saving supplies reach children and families in conflict-affected Aleppo
UNICEF and partners have just completed the delivery of life-saving supplies to the embattled city of Aleppo in northwestern Syria.
The mission, which also included the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) and other United Nations agencies, was part of a 15-truck convoy that travelled from Damascus to Aleppo. UNICEF’s supplies included diarrhoeal disease kits to treat 30,000 people, medical kits for 20,000 people, 2,000 family hygiene kits, cooking stoves, high energy biscuits and school supplies.
“The humanitarian situation in Aleppo is desperate,” said Yoka Brandt, a UNICEF Deputy Executive Director who was on a two-day visit to Damascus last week. “Our goal is to reach children who most need our assistance, no matter where they are.”
Aleppo has the highest number of affected people in the country – at least 2.4 million. According to UNICEF, half of these are children.
“Humanitarian needs, especially for food, water and shelter, are very severe,” said Ahmedou Bahah, who accompanied the convoy as head of UNICEF’s Water, Sanitation and Hygiene programme in Syria.
UNICEF delivered five generators and eight water tanks that will provide safe drinking water to more than 1 million people in Aleppo. The installation of the generators has already begun.
With the conflict in Syria in its third year, living conditions, especially in the worst affected areas, have become deplorable. Prices have tripled or quadrupled, impacting the provision of basic supplies and households’ purchasing power. Families are struggling to provide their children with basic supplies including bread, vegetables and fruits, milk, yogurt and eggs.
Since the beginning of the year, UNICEF has participated in 20 United Nations convoys, 15 of which were to areas controlled by opposition groups.
Through these and other missions, UNICEF and partners provided 10 million people with access to safe drinking water, vaccinated 1.5 million children, enrolled more than 141,000 children in schools and supported more than 450 school clubs where children receive the support needed to overcome some of the horrors they have witnessed.
Source: United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund
- 334 reads
