The Central African Republic’s three million children are the most deprived globally, facing widespread malnutrition, inadequate healthcare, and instability, putting the country at high risk of a humanitarian crisis, UNICEF reported on Tuesday.
According to the U.N. children’s agency, half of the children in the country lack access to health services, and nearly 40% suffer from chronic malnutrition. Access to clean water, sanitation, and healthy diets is also scarce.
Meritxell Relano Arana, UNICEF representative in the Central African Republic (CAR), highlighted the dire situation, stating that global attention is diverted to other conflicts, making the plight of CAR’s children “painfully invisible.”
“The three million girls and boys of the Central African Republic face the highest registered level of overlapping and interconnected crises and deprivation in the world,” she said, adding that CAR is now ranked as the country most at risk of sliding into a humanitarian crisis.
Despite a peace accord in February 2019 between the government and 14 armed groups, violence in CAR, one of the world’s poorest countries, has only slightly decreased, with significant areas still outside government control.
