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Save the Children Assists Children Suffering through Tajikistan's Extreme Winter
Westport, Conn. (February 7, 2008) — Save the Children has initiated a rapid response to meet the immediate needs of children and families in Tajikistan, which is enduring its coldest winter in decades and faces widespread food and fuel scarcity.
Extreme winter temperatures, depleting food and fuel stocks, probable, prolonged blackouts at the national level beginning mid-February, and limited access to water is pushing the entire population of Tajikistan (an estimated 7 million people) into humanitarian crisis.
"The impact on households is tremendous. While the crisis is affecting families throughout the country, children are particularly at risk in rural areas — where there is electricity for only one hour a day and limited access to water and gas even in the best of times," said Caroline Loftus, who heads Save the Children's international response to emergencies. "Families have told us that their fuel supply has been depleted and their children are falling ill."
Save the Children — in coordination with the Tajik government and other agencies — will focus its relief activities in rural areas where it currently implements long-term development programs, including the districts of Jomi, Khuroson, Vakhsh, Vose, Kulob, Baljuvon and Khovaling in the Khatlon Region. The agency plans to reach 10,000 children with lifesaving assistance.
Save the Children will distribute warm children's clothing (tights, sweaters, jackets, hats, gloves, socks and boots); food; blankets and bed linens; candles; plastic sheeting and window panes; and containers for carrying and storing water. In addition, the agency will provide cash for purchasing food in local markets to the poorest families.
Save the Children has worked in Tajikistan since 1994. The agency has programs to combat hunger and malnutrition, protect vulnerable children, improve the quality of preschool and primary education, and improve family health and community health services, especially in rural areas.
You can help Save the Children respond to this emergency as well as other future emergencies that put at great risk the survival, protection, and well-being of significant numbers of children. By contributing to the Children's Emergency Fund, you enable us to respond immediately to children and families who urgently need our help when disasters strike.
Donate to the Children's Emergency Fund
