UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- The UN children's agency has provided warm clothes to more than 160,000 internally displaced and refugee children as cold winter weather sweeps across Iraq, the agency said Thursday.
Although fighting has subsided in Iraq, some 1.85 million people, including 825,000 children, remain displaced, the agency known as UNICEF estimated.
"One-third of all displaced children live in camps, in poorly insulated tents, often with no winter clothes or shoes," said UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore.
"These children have little protection against flooding and the bitter cold, putting them at risk of illness, hypothermia and death," she added.
As part of UNICEF's winter response, more than 100,000 displaced children in camps in Anbar of the west and in and around Mosul in the north received supplies to keep them warm.
UNICEF's winter support has also included vulnerable Syrian refugees through the use of vouchers.
In mountainous Sinjar, where temperatures drop below freezing, UNICEF is helping keep the minority residents warm. Nearly 50,000 Yazidi children and more than 2,500 pregnant Yazidi mothers living in the area received coats, boots, hats, gloves, sweaters and trousers.
"Now that the violence has subsided, and a new government is in place, Iraq has a unique window of opportunity to rebuild the country for all its children, so that they can live in peace and harmony," Fore said.
