(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-02-13 16:51

Funding is also being sought for humanitarian activities in Sudan, especially the strife-torn Darfur region, home to 2.1 million internally displaced persons.

UNICEF-supported programs in Sudan, totalling over 150 million dollars, aim to boost health, nutrition and education, increase access to safe water and sanitation, and promote child protection and mine action.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, more than half of the deaths of young children are attributed to malnutrition. UNICEF is requesting 106 million dollars to help Congolese children.

"We must make sure those children and women are protected as much as possible from these atrocities, and that those responsible for these crimes are eventually brought to justice," Johnson stressed.

The report puts the spotlight on the nearly 1 million people who are currently displaced by conflict in West Africa. UNICEF says flood victims in Mozambique and other countries in southern Africa, as well as victims of cyclones in Bangladesh are in great distress.

It says many children in war-torn Iraq and Afghanistan are acutely malnourished and many suffer from trauma.

Last year, thanks to an increase in the contributions received from new funding mechanisms such as the Central Emergency Response Fund, 52 per cent of UNICEF's requested emergency funds were received.

The agency said it hopes donors and other partners will help increase the efficiency of disaster preparedness and response. Steve Adkisson, who represented UNICEF in Chad from 2004 to 2007, said financing up front can save costs in the long run.

"If the funding does not come in a consistent and timely manner, goods need to be delivered by air rather than by road," he noted. And each time that happens, "more funding goes to the delivery of the goods."

   1 2   

   1 2