Children, refugees pay hefty price of global aid funding crisis

ONU - 21/03
Children, refugees and displaced people worldwide are paying the price for the deep-seated funding crisis that has engulfed the international aid sector, made worse by pronounced cuts in Washington, the UN children’s and refugee agencies said on Friday. 

Spokespersons for UNICEF and UNHCR in Geneva warned that the liquidity crunch has jeopardized lifesaving work, including progress in reducing child mortality, which has fallen by 60 per cent since 1990.  

By slashing severe acute malnutrition by one-third since 2000, UNICEF’s efforts have kept 55 million children alive, through simple interventions, it insisted.

“There are ways in which we can still be optimistic if we know that we can do it,” said Kitty van der Heijden, UNICEF’s Deputy Executive Director said from Abuja, Nigeria.  

But that work can only get done with the support of a “conveyor belt” of partners in government, philanthropy, and the private sector.  

Donors are essential to delivering lifesaving assistance to children and mothers worldwide, Ms. Van der...
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