Save the Children charity warned that nearly half a million children are at risk of losing access to essential healthcare. This is a result of the escalating conflict in the Middle East, disrupting global lifesaving aid shipments.
Conflict disrupts lifesaving aid shipments for 410,000 children
The charity disclosed that key routes have been severely obstructed since the outbreak of hostilities between US-Israeli forces and Iran. Tehran has launched retaliatory attacks across the region, effectively halting shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
According to Save the Children, the disruption has sent shipping costs soaring by up to 50 per cent. This has left humanitarian supplies intended for at least 410,000 children and their families stranded in the Middle East.
“The escalating conflict is having grave ripple effects for children far beyond the region,” said Willem Zuidema, the NGO’s head of global supply chains.
Meanwhile, in Sudan, a shipment of medical supplies remains stuck in Dubai due to the closure of Hormuz. The consignment includes antibiotics, antimalarials, and deworming treatments meant to support over 400,000 children.
The charity warned that more than 90 primary healthcare facilities across Sudan now face critical shortages of essential medicines.
Save the Children is exploring alternative routes, including transporting the goods by road across Saudi Arabia to Jeddah and then by sea to Port Sudan. However, the organisation cautioned that this could add between $1,000 and $2,000 per container in additional costs.
Soaring costs and rerouted shipments threaten healthcare
In Afghanistan, critical nutrition supplies intended for 5,000 children and 1,400 pregnant and breastfeeding women have also been affected. The aid, originally scheduled for shipment from India via Iran, will now have to be flown in at a cost exceeding $240,000.
Similarly, a shipment of medicines, including antibiotics, for approximately 5,000 children in Yemen remains delayed in Dubai. Save the Children said it would, for the first time, transport the supplies by road, effectively doubling the transport cost.
Zuidema urged all parties to the conflict to guarantee the safe passage of humanitarian assistance.
“There should be no barriers to life-saving supplies. Exemptions must be put in place to allow humanitarian goods, fertiliser, and food to move through the Strait of Hormuz,” he said.
He further warned that with global humanitarian needs already at historic highs, any further escalation of the conflict would have severe consequences for vulnerable children worldwide.
Meanwhile, the Red Cross Society of China has recently announced it will provide $200,000 in emergency humanitarian aid to the Iranian Red Crescent Society.