11M Children In Africa Vulnerable To Effects From El Niño Weather Phenomenon, UNICEF Warns

News outlets discuss the findings of a new UNICEF report, titled “A Wake Up Call: El Niño’s Impact on Children.”

Quartz: As El Niño hits Africa, 11 million children are the most vulnerable
“…UNICEF worries El Niño could undo years of improved public health, nutrition, and education, which have increased life expectancy on the continent, as well as contributed to optimism over Africa’s prospects for economic growth and stability…” (Kuo, 11/10).

Thomson Reuters Foundation: El Niño threatens 11 million children in Africa with hunger, disease: U.N.
“Some 11 million children in eastern and southern Africa face hunger, disease, and water shortages as a result of the strongest El Niño weather phenomenon in decades, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Tuesday. Food and water shortages caused by drought and floods are causing malnutrition, which increases children’s vulnerability to killer diseases like malaria, diarrhea, cholera, and dengue fever, it said…” (Migiro, 11/10).

U.N. News Centre: Millions of children’s lives at stake as El Niño strengthens, UNICEF ‘wake-up call’ report warns
“… ‘Children and their communities need our help to recover from the impact of El Niño and to prepare for the further damage it could unleash,’ said UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake a press release. … Mr. Lake underscored that the intensity and potential destructiveness of El Niño ‘should be a wake-up call’ as world leaders gather in Paris. ‘As they debate an agreement on limiting global warming, they should recall that the future of today’s children and of planet they will inherit is at stake’…” (11/10).

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