Lives of 24 million children in conflict areas threatened, says UNICEF

These include the children from the Middle East and North Africa, in countries such as Yemen, Iraq and Syria.

Conflicts, especially those of military nature do not just cause real damage by taking the lives of those involved in violent actions like physical combat but leave a far more lasting effect on the future of the zones where the occur. This is seen by the conditions, and life changing or ending circumstances, that the children in such areas face.

And this is exactly what has happened in what is the biggest area of conflict in modern times, the Middle East, which has become the theatre where rivalries of not only countries of the area play out, but also those of powerful western countries.

The children have become the biggest and most innocent victims of such a situation, as the United Nation's children agency has reported that the conflicts in the area threaten the lives of 24 million children. These include the children from the Middle East and North Africa, in countries such as Yemen, Iraq and Syria.

The threat comes from various sources such as cholera in Yemen, to attacks on various hospitals in Syria, and thousands of those who are trapped in Iraq's city of Mosul.

UNICEF has said that the violence being played out in these countries is leaving the children without the basic requirements such as essential health care, water and sanitation services, which are causing waterborne diseases to spread, as insufficient health care and nutritious food are adding to the suffering.

"Violence is crippling health systems in conflict-affected countries and threatens children's very survival,'' Geert Cappelaere, UNICEF's director for the Middle East and North Africa is reported to have said. "Beyond the bombs, bullets and explosions, countless children are dying in silence from diseases that could easily be prevented and treated,'' he reportedly added.

The high numbers clearly point to the enormous scale of the disaster, as according to UNICEF, with 9.6 million children in need in Yemen is at the top of the list and is followed by Syria, Iraq, Sudan, the Gaza Strip and Libya.

Yemen which is in the middle of a two-year conflict has pushed the already impoverished country to almost the brink of famine, with cases of severe acute malnutrition among children of the country being reported.

According to UNICEF, around 5.8 million children in Syria, which includes more than 2 million who live in areas which are under siege and almost out of reach of humanitarian aid. And many do not have access to essential vaccinations and those with illness or injuries struggle to get any help.

And in Iraq, water supplies in camps set up for those who have gotten displaced around the city of Mosul are running short as new refugees keep arriving on a daily basis including many malnourished children UNICEF added.

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