UNICEF continues its support in flood-stricken Bangladesh

One month after floods devastated Bangladesh, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) continues to provide food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities and shelter to those affected by the monsoon rains.

UNICEF has also deployed 10 mobile water treatment plants for communities needing safe water in concert with the country’s Department of Public Health and Engineering.

The agency said in its latest update, released yesterday, that deaths resulting from diarrhoea have been avoided to date – despite 15,000 reported cases – thanks to the availability of oral rehydration salts to treat dehydration.

“It is critical to recognize that in this situation the children and women, especially children of female-headed households, are the most affected,” said UNICEF’s Representative in Bangladesh Louis-Georges Arsenault. “Our assessments of the situation confirm that there are some very specific needs… such as for special nutrients for children, pregnant and lactating women, which must continue to be addressed.”

So far, UNICEF and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) have distributed 90 tons of high-protein biscuits in Bangladesh and plan to deliver another 24 tons this week, UN spokesperson Michele Montas told reporters in New York yesterday.

An estimated 45 million people across India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan have been affected by the flooding, with many of them forced to leave their homes. At least 2,200 people have been killed.

The UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has already announced that it is increasing its support of South Asian governments as they respond to the flooding, including by drawing from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF).