A deadly combination of displacement, soaring malnutrition rates, conflict and disaster has left more children in need of humanitarian assistance than at any time since the Second World War. As winter weather has brought freezing temperatures and damp conditions to some parts of the world, children have been left especially exposed and vulnerable.
The risk of hypothermia and serious respiratory infections threaten children whose immune systems are often already weakened from undernutrition. Children living in conflict areas, meanwhile, are more likely to be displaced, living in extreme poverty, or not enrolled in school, leaving them even more vulnerable when temperatures plunge. Even for families who have managed to remain in their homes, months or even years of conflict and unemployment have drained their financial resources, making purchases of warm clothing, heating fuel or repairs to their homes all but impossible. (...) More
