Diarrhoea kills 85,000 Afghan children a year

Reuters, December 13, 1999

ISLAMABAD, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Diarrhoea kills 85,000 children a year in war-torn Afghanistan, the U.N. children's fund said on Monday.

A UNICEF statement quoted speakers gathered to launch a UNICEF report in the eastern Afghan town of Jalalabad.

UN regional coordinating officer Abu-El Gasim Abu-Diek appealed to governments and international communities to bring global conflict to an end, the statement said.

He added that children made up 35 percent of all landmine victims in Afghanistan.

"Wars have put children and mothers into a deadly destiny of no return," he said. "The basic needs of food, medicine and clothing have now become wants of millions of Afghans."

Last month, the United Nations launched a campaign for $221 million in humanitarian aid for Afghanistan.

It came less than two weeks after the U.N. Security Council imposed sanctions on the impoverished country for failing to hand over Saudi guerrilla Osama bin Laden.

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