To help children and families affected by the series of natural disasters that have devastated countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) today said it has scaled up its humanitarian response the region.

A new inter-agency study released today found a correlation between prolonged droughts in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras – exacerbated by El Niño phenomenon from 2014 to 2016 – and the increase in irregular migration from these countries to the United States, the United Nations food relief agency reported.

With better commodity export prices and an improved international context, the Latin America and the Caribbean region will record a small positive growth rate this year – with the exception of Venezuela and two Caribbean countries, according to a new report of the UN Latin America commission.