Nearly 4 Million Children in Pakistan Still Threatened by 2022 Floods

Nearly 4 million children in Pakistan live in appalling conditions due to the floods that hit the country last year. So says UNICEF, the UN Children’s Fund.

The worst flooding hit Pakistan in its history in August last year. More than 1,700 people lost their lives. The floods affected an estimated 33 million people in different country regions.

Due to stagnant and polluted water, many children in Pakistan today still suffer from respiratory infections, which are a significant cause of child mortality, says UNICEF. The number of children suffering from severe acute malnutrition was also twice as high between July and December as in the same period in 2021. An estimated 1.5 million children require life-saving nutritional assistance.

The UN Development Program UNDP also sounds the alarm. “The destruction caused by the water, the human suffering and the economic costs make these floods catastrophic,” said UNDP’s Achim Steiner. “The water may have receded, but the consequences are still there,” it sounds. “We need massive reconstruction and recovery.”

The international community must help Pakistan rebuild after last year’s devastating floods, or the country is left in misery, the UN Development Program concludes.