UN Calls for Immediate Evacuation of Sick Syrian children in East Ghouta

The United Nations children’s agency says that 137 children that are stranded in a rebel-held suburb that is near the Syrian capital demand immediate medical evacuation amid a crippling siege in which five have already died from a lack of medical care. Five children there are reported to have already died from a lack of medical care.

The situation of in the rebel stronghold of Eastern Ghouta near the Syrian capital is "getting worse day by day," a representative of the United Nation’s children’s agency said on Sunday, with children suffering amid one of the worst health crises of the Syrian war.

UNICEF called on “all parties” in the Syrian conflict to allow “unconditional” humanitarian access to the country’s children. Aerial bombings have destroyed hospitals and neighborhoods, which has contributed to the spread of disease and malnutrition.

According to UNICEF, nearly 12 percent of East Ghouta’s children under 5 years old suffer from acute malnutrition ― the highest rate recorded since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011.