'Syrian kids face food, healthcare challenges'

The UN relief office has said that Syrian children are facing food and healthcare challenges as violence is still raging in the country, which has been plunged into a political crisis since March 2011, a UN spokesperson said here Friday.

"The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says that soaring food prices, the unavailability of food for children, displacement, and loss of income have made it difficult to provide Syrian children with adequate healthcare and nutrition, " reported Xinhua citing Farhan Haq, the associate UN spokesperson, during a press briefing.

"The number of children admitted to hospitals with severe or acute malnutrition has reportedly increased in Aleppo, Deir ez-Zor, Hama, Homs, and other areas," Haq said. "Humanitarian partners report that six children have died from malnutrition in the past month in Moadamyieh, rural Damascus."

After more than two years since the outbreak of the crisis, which has reportedly claimed more than 100,000 lives and displaced almost one-third of the Middle East country's population, the UN agency said, the Syrian people, including their children, are still in dire need of humanitarian assistance.