WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st January, 2021) More than 300,000 Afghan children face freezing winter conditions that could lead to illness, in the worst cases death, without proper winter clothing and heating, the international relief charity Save the Children warned in a press release on Thursday.
"The early snow in the northern parts of Afghanistan where we work has impacted children particularly badly. The most vulnerable children are those whose schools have shut because of the worsening winter conditions. Their families don't have the money to buy winter clothing. Instead children are forced to huddle at home to escape the bitter cold," Save the Children Afghanistan Director Chris Nyamandi said in the release.
With schools are closed until March in the coldest parts of Afghanistan where the temperature can plummet as low as minus 27 degrees Celsius, the classroom often provides the only source of warmth for children in the winter, the release said.
The ongoing conflict has also destroyed many homes and forced thousands of children to shelter in camps for the homeless. There they risk hunger, disease, including COVD-19, even death from freezing temperatures, the release added.
Save the Children, which has been active in Afghanistan since 1976, said it plans to distribute kits including fuel, a heater, blankets and winter clothes to 100,000 families in 12 of the nation's 34 provinces along with shelter repair kits and 12 weeks rent for families facing eviction.
