UNICEF has also delivered 155 metric tonnes of therapeutic milk to feed children suffering from severe malnutrition - a major cause underlying death among children under five. A total of 10,000 severely malnourished children will benefit immediately from the therapeutic milk, which is now arriving in each of the 63 nutrition rehabilitation centres run by the Iraq Ministry of Health.
The UNICEF deliveries constitute the first shipments of high protein biscuits and therapeutic milk into the country in two years. The supplies are sufficient to last for a month. UNICEF has also shipped nutritional supplies to its warehouses in the countries surrounding Iraq to enable a rapid response should a surge in malnutrition occur.
Iraq has one of the highest rates of under-five mortality in the world, with more than one in eight children dying before they reach their fifth birthday. Although it has improved in recent years, malnutrition also remains high, affecting one in four Iraqi children under the age of five - almost 1 million youngsters in total.
Half of Iraq's 24.5 million people are children.
The UNICEF deliveries constitute the first shipments of high protein biscuits and therapeutic milk into the country in two years. The supplies are sufficient to last for a month. UNICEF has also shipped nutritional supplies to its warehouses in the countries surrounding Iraq to enable a rapid response should a surge in malnutrition occur.
Iraq has one of the highest rates of under-five mortality in the world, with more than one in eight children dying before they reach their fifth birthday. Although it has improved in recent years, malnutrition also remains high, affecting one in four Iraqi children under the age of five - almost 1 million youngsters in total.
Half of Iraq's 24.5 million people are children.