Gert van der Hoek
In Memoriam - Editor, Senior Moderator
KATHMANDU: Severe shortages of food and vaccines due to border protests have left millions of children in quake-hit Nepal at risk of disease or death this winter, Unicef said today.
The landlocked Himalayan nation has been struggling to cope with a sharp drop in vital supplies after protesters on September 24 began blockading a key border crossing to demand changes to a new constitution.
Nepal's government accuses neighbouring India of orchestrating the blockade, a charge it denies.
The disruption has caused crippling shortages of fuel and medicine, leaving aid organisations scrambling to deliver relief to homeless quake victims seven months after the April 25 disaster killed nearly 9,000 people.
"More than three million children under the age of five in Nepal are at risk of death or disease during the harsh winter months due to a severe shortage of fuel, food, medicines and vaccines," UNICEF, the UN Children's Fund, said in a statement.
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The landlocked Himalayan nation has been struggling to cope with a sharp drop in vital supplies after protesters on September 24 began blockading a key border crossing to demand changes to a new constitution.
Nepal's government accuses neighbouring India of orchestrating the blockade, a charge it denies.
The disruption has caused crippling shortages of fuel and medicine, leaving aid organisations scrambling to deliver relief to homeless quake victims seven months after the April 25 disaster killed nearly 9,000 people.
"More than three million children under the age of five in Nepal are at risk of death or disease during the harsh winter months due to a severe shortage of fuel, food, medicines and vaccines," UNICEF, the UN Children's Fund, said in a statement.
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