“The U.N. Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warns soaring summer temperatures in conflict-ridden Syria and neighboring countries of refuge are putting millions of children at risk of disease,” VOA News reports. “According to UNICEF, overcrowding and worsening hygiene are threatening the health and well-being of some four million children affected by the ongoing conflict in Syria,” the news agency adds (Schlein, 6/21). “There are some 6.8 million people in need of humanitarian assistance as a result of the fighting between the Syrian army and opposition forces seeking to oust President Bashar Al-Assad,” and “[t]he crisis, which began in March 2011, has claimed more than 93,000 lives and sent some 1.5 million people fleeing to neighboring countries for safety,” the U.N. News Centre notes. “UNICEF needs more than $200 million for its water, sanitation and hygiene programs in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq until the end of the year,” according to the news service, but “[n]early half way through the year, it remains $124 million short of this target” (6/21).