A United Nations relief agency has appealed for 15 million dollars in emergency aid for North Korean children, saying last year's floods increased their vulnerability.
The financial needs for 2008 include eight million dollars for health and nutrition, six million for water, sanitation and hygiene and one million for education, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said."The devastation caused by the floods in 2007 has further increased the vulnerability of children," said UNICEF's Humanitarian Action Report 2008 released Tuesday.
It said basic social services in health, nutrition, water supply and education for women and children, especially for more than two million under-five children and 300,000 pregnant women, would continue to rely critically on the support of international community.
Child mortality (55 per 1,000 live births), chronic malnutrition of children under-five (37 percent) and malnutrition of pregnant women (32 percent) remained high, UNICEF said.
It attributed the high mortality and malnutrition to prolonged poverty, lack of resources in the health system, decaying water and sanitation systems, inadequate caring practices for young children and pregnant women and fragile food security.
The North said about 600 people were dead or missing, hundreds of thousands homeless and 11 percent of the grain harvest was lost due to floods in August last year.
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Source-AFP
SRM/K
