It would cost the world $635 million US to deliver clean water, provide basic health services and help save some of the millions living in "forgotten" Third World emergencies, UNICEF officials say.

The "minor investment" would help prevent illness and alleviate poverty in most regions lacking global awareness about their distress, the United Nations Children's Fund says in its 2007 Humanitarian Action Report released Monday.

Afghanistan and Sudan are in dire need of infrastructure funding, UNICEF Canada president Nigel Fisher said on Monday.
CBC

Among the 33 "forgotten" areas in dire need of funding are Afghanistan and Sudan, it says.

Of the $635 million US, UNICEF would earmark $20 million for Afghans affected by drought and hunger, and one-fifth of the entire budget to Sudan, including $50 million for Sudan's Darfur region alone.

In war-ravaged Afghanistan, "the No. 1 problem is just staying alive," UNICEF Canada president Nigel Fisher told CBC Newsworld on Monday.

"Because of so much poverty, the insecurity and poor health infrastructure, just the most basic diseases — malaria, diarrhea — kill kids in enormous numbers," he said.

Pregnancy in Afghanistan has also been a killer, since many women without access to health services attempt to give birth unassisted and in their homes. As a result, Afghanistan has the highest female mortality rate from childbirth in the world, Fisher said.

Still, he said, the Afghanistan situation is "not hopeless, but really extreme." He noted immunization rates have increased since 2003 and millions of kids — many of them girls — are now attending schools.

The greatest security concerns involve the porous border with Pakistan, where Taliban insurgents have crossed over and are suspected to have found safe havens in Pakistan.

In Sudan, the situation is just as unstable. Continued conflicts have affected about four million people, including 1.8 million children, in Darfur alone, the UNICEF report says.

Last year, 12 humanitarian workers were killed in the Darfur violence, underscoring the need for more funds in the region to equip and protect UNICEF workers.

Unless the children's agency receives the funds it needs, an upsurge in violence could threaten a withdrawal of humanitarian agencies "who are currently the only lifeline for the displaced communities," the report warns.