UNICEF launches $110 million appeal for Sudan children

UNICEF launches $110 million appeal for Sudan children KHARTOUM: The UN children's agency on Wednesday launched a $110 million appeal to help two million acutely malnourished children across Sudan, including hundreds of thousands living in conflict areas. UNICEF said Sudan is home to around 13 percent of all children suffering from acute malnutrition(तीव्र कुपोषण) across Africa. Their

situation is exacerbated (तेज़ करना) by conflict-related displacements, El Nino, epidemics, floods and droughts. "The United Nations Children's Fund in Sudan launches an appeal in response to children's needs across the country, for a provisional total of $110 million," UNICEF said in a statement.

The agency said two million children under five in Sudan are acutely malnourished.

And two million children have been displaced due to violence in Darfur, the regions of South and North Kordofan, Blue Nile and Abyei, with many separated from their relatives and affected by grave (गंभीर) violations, it said.

Around three million children remain out of school, with half of them living in conflict-affected(संघर्ष-प्रभावित)  areas.

Although Sudan has made progress across many life-saving sectors in recent years, around 24 million people still lack proper sanitation facilities while six million children have no access to clean drinking water, the agency said.

UNICEF has spent about $500 million in Sudan over the past five years, and the agency increasingly aims to tap funds from inside Sudan.