Drowning biggest killer of children

Children affected by the recent floods are particularly vulnerable and often have to bear long term burdens left by natural disasters, says a study of the United Nations Children's Agency.
It added that 88 percent of the flood related deaths were caused by drowning, the vast majority of these children, says a press release.
In total, 702 people have so far died in these floods of which 619 have drowned. The Bangladesh Health and Injury Survey shows that drowning is the biggest killer of children over the age of one.
“Our major response in any emergency is to save the lives of women and children and that's why we have been concentrating on our efforts as part of a coordinated UN response on providing essential drugs, including paediatric medication which have been funded through the generous support of CIDA, the Canadian International Development Agency” says UNICEF Representative in Bangladesh Louis-Georges Arsenault.
UNICEF with help from World Food Programme (WFP) and other partners has so far reached approximately 40,000 children between 6 and 36 months and 20,000 pregnant and lactating mothers with the highly nutritious BP5 biscuits.
Another 11,000 children and 5,000 women will be reached in the third round distribution of BP5 biscuits taking the total amount of biscuits distributed to nearly 400 metric ton.
According to the latest ICDDR,B estimates, the percentage of children admitted as diarrhoea patients in the past two weeks has risen by 40 per cent.
Also an increasing number of children are affected by the stagnant floodwaters in different parts of the country especially in lower parts in and around Dhaka.
Over 4,000 schools still remain closed while nearly 300 are being used as shelters for flood victims while 44 schools have been totally washed away due to river erosion, disrupting the educational prospects of countless children.
Lessons learnt from previous floods clearly show that malnutrition has immediate and long term effects on children and women.
Studies from 2004 have shown that weak nutrition in children not only exposed them to water-borne diseases long after the floods were over, but also caused long term conditions such as night blindness. Pregnant and lactating mothers also require special nutritional needs.
“Of course we also need to look at the medium and long term effects of an emergency such as a flood and that's when getting children back to school becomes a priority,” says Arsenault.
Children under 5 across the country will receive one dose of Vitamin A in the upcoming National Immunisation Day (NID) on October 27 to help fight night blindness and other nutritional deficiencies.
Children of displaced families also require special attention. It is anticipated that some of the displaced families will take longer to return home and rebuild their lives.