“Save the Children”: Funding cuts will raise the poverty and malnutrition rates among Syrian children

“Save the Children” organization said that the additional international funding cuts for Syria will worsen the poverty and malnutrition rates among the children.

Save the children’s Syria Response Director, Rasha Muhrez, confirmed in a statement that it is important to exert more efforts for early recovery in line with the donors’ commitments in VIII Brussels conference.

Muhrez pointed out that the early recovery is the only solution that through it we can help the Syrian families to build their lives and provide the future that Syrian children deserve.

Muhrez made it clear that the announcement of €3.9 billion in pledged aid for 2024, a 15% decrease from last year’s commitments, and €1.2 billion for 2025, is another alarming decrease in support from international community for Syria and refugee hosting countries in the region.

Muhrez mentioned that “we have seen words affirming the support of the international community for Syria, but very little fund to turn this commitment into reality for vulnerable Syrian children amid absent of any other funding mechanism to support the resilience of children and their families.

Muhrez pointed out that child poverty has become an endemic is Syria. She confirmed that we cannot address this problem without a significant increase in humanitarian assistance, in addition to the efforts to prevent exacerbating malnutrition and support the good education services and investment in the vital main services, and we cannot do more with less resources.

The donors pledged last Monday at the VIII Brussels conference to “support the future of Syria and the region” to provide donations, grants and loans, worth €7.5 billion ($8.1 billion).

The amount announced this year included Syrians inside the war-torn country, in addition to about 5.7 million Syrian refugees in neighboring Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan, which are suffering from economic crises.