New Delhi: Multiple global crises including the Covid-19 outbreak, Russia-Ukraine war, and natural disasters have put the lives of 339 million people around the world at risk in 2022, said UNICEF.
According to United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Ukraine’s war with Russia sparked displacement at a scale that has not been seen since World War II, the lives of nearly 7.5 million children impacted.
“In 2022, many children and their families around the world faced multiple emergencies. War, disease outbreaks, natural disasters and other crises meant that by the end of the year, 339 million people required life-saving assistance – up 25 per cent on a year earlier,“ UNICEF said in a statement.
This placed huge demands on global humanitarian supply chains, highlighting that better forecasting and resilience are needed within procurement and logistics networks to ensure children and families receive essential supplies on time, it said.
Throughout the year, UNICEF worked with a diverse range of partners to meet the immediate needs of children in emergencies, all the while making inroads to improve supply systems into the future.
“The war in Ukraine has had a devastating impact on the country’s 7.5 million children, with the fighting sparking displacement on a scale not seen since World War II,” UNICEF said.
The global logistics and transport firms contributed to UNICEF’s emergency response by delivering dignity kits, hygiene supplies, blankets, and water and sanitation items to Ukraine at the beginning of the war, it said.
UNICEF has since expanded its operations even further, sending more than 12,500 tonnes of supplies to the country.
UNICEF worked around the clock to deliver COVID-19 supplies such as vaccines, diagnostics, medicines and personal protective equipment (PPE).
