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One thousand hospitals in Pakistan
destroyed in quake: UN
Pakistan
Times
Foreign Desk Report
ISLAMABAD: Thousands of
children in regions dev astated
by South Asia's earthquake are at risk of death from cold, malnutrition and
disease, UNICEF said on Friday.
The U.N. agency said the international relief effort must focus on keeping
children alive in the weeks ahead. It said it was sending high protein
biscuits, boots and sweaters for children, blankets, water containers,
plastic tarpaulins, tents, medical supplies and blankets to affected areas.
"With wintry conditions arriving in the higher elevations, children are
facing a potentially deadly combination of cold, malnutrition, and disease,"
UNICEF Executive Director Ann Veneman said in a statement from New York on
Thursday.
"Most housing has been destroyed in the hardest-hit areas, so the survival
of thousands of young children is now at stake," Veneman said.
Immunization
Routine immunization coverage in the quake zone is about 60 per cent for
young children, so hundreds of thousands are unprotected against deadly
diseases such as measles, UNICEF said.
It said it was sending Vitamin A to the region to boost immune systems of
children, who are more vulnerable to measles if weakened by exposure and
malnutrition.
Nearly half of those affected are younger than 18, the agency said. The Oct.
8 earthquake killed tens of thousands in northwest Pakistan and in Azad
Kashmir.●
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