Thousands of Syrian children are screened to prevent malnutrition
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A Syrian girl who has sought refuge with her family in Jordan
Thousands of Syrian children are being screened by United Nations agencies and their partners to prevent malnutrition.
The UN children's agency (UNICEF) says this is part of a regional response to meet the growing health and nutrition needs of an estimated 1.3 million children inside and in surrounding countries.
According to UNICEF, the conflict has disrupted health services across Syria and most of refugee children and their families have not had access to routine immunizations and other basic services.
UN spokesperson Martin Nesirky has more.
"The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the Jordanian Ministry of Health are working with the World Health Organization (WHO) and partner agencies to launch a large-scale polio and measles vaccination campaign targeting more than 100,000 children in Za'atari Camp in Jordan, nearby transit centres, and communities hosting refugees in the northern part of the country. In Lebanon and Iraq, immunizations are also being provided and the nutritional status of children aged 5 years and under is being monitored closely." (Duration: 31″)
UNICEF is appealing to the international community to increase funding for its programmes for emergency water, sanitation, education, health and nutrition for the children and their families.
