UN humanitarian agencies step up efforts to assist displaced Syrians
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Syrians attempt to cross the border to take refuge in Turkey. (UNICEF)
United Nations agencies are reaching more and more displaced Syrians seeking assistance.
UNICEF, the UN Children's Fund, says it was urgently mobilizing more than 100,000 children's clothing kits and around 160,000 blankets, including baby blankets, along with other winter supplies for displaced children in Syria and surrounding areas.
Meanwhile, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees- UNHCR, says it has delivered vital aid packages to some 60,300 families across Syria benefiting more than 300,000 people.
UNHCR Spokesperson Adrian Edwards says the agency aims to provide such assistance to half a million people, or about 100,000 families by the end of the year.
"Across the region, meanwhile, the number of Syrian refugees in surrounding countries who have registered now stands at 442,256 – an increase of more than 213,000 since the beginning of September. And this figure does not include the hundreds of thousands more Syrians who have not come forward at this stage for registration."
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization – WHO, says many hospitals and health facilities have been destroyed or partly damaged in rural Damascus. The agency says information provided by the Syrian ministry of health shows that 44 out of 88 public hospitals have been damaged out of which 23 are out of service.
And as a direct result of that, WHO says there has been an increase in the number of women seeking elective caesarean section as many are worried of not being able to reach a hospital in time for their delivery.
Donn Bobb, United Nations
Duration: 1'33"
