The United Nations Children Fund, (UNICEF) says an estimated 840,000 children have been displaced by the recent flooding that ravaged some parts of Nigeria.
According to an issued statement on Tuesday, the Head of the UNICEF delegation for COP-27, Paloma Escudero, said about 27.7 million children across the world were affected by the flooding in 2022.
Escudero said children are a large majority of the 27.7 million children affected by flooding in 2022 are among the most vulnerable and are at high risk of a multitude of threats including death by drowning, disease outbreaks, lack of safe drinking water, malnutrition, disruption in learning, and violence.
“We are seeing unprecedented levels of flooding all around the world this year, and with it, an explosion in threats to children. The climate crisis is here. In many places, the flooding is the worst it has been in a generation, or several. Our children are already suffering at a scale their parents never did”, she said.
“An estimated 840,000 children were displaced by floods in Nigeria in recent months”, she added.
Escudero said over 1 in 9 children who were hospitalised in flood-ravaged areas in Pakistan were diagnosed with acute malnutrition, while an estimated 465,030 hectares of farmlands were destroyed in Lake Chad, contributing to heightened food insecurity.
