UNICEF: Economic downturn affects children of Tajikistan

In addition to inhabiting a land whose soil is poor for growing, people of the Rasht Valley have a new harsh reality to confront the global economic crisis.

Up to an estimated 95 per cent of the region's income is derived from these remittances. But the revenue flow has all but stopped, as Russia, like the rest of the world, tries to cope with the financial downturn.

No one knows yet just how far remittances have fallen in the Rasht Valley. However, figures for the whole of Tajikistan suggest a reduction of perhaps 30 per cent; the figure in the valley itself is expected to be far higher.

The head of UNICEF's office in Dushanbe, Hongwei Gao, expresses particular concern for the valley's inhabitants.

"We would like to beef up our support to children," she says. "We would like to support more children, particularly in the Rasht Valley, because that is a region heavily dependent on remittances."

UNICEF has made a start by supporting a programme to reduce the incidence of goitre amongst the valley's population. Using a small testing kit supplied by UNICEF, a local doctor is teaching women how to test the salt they buy in the markets for iodine. Goitre is caused by iodine deficiency.

To read the full story, visit http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/Tajikistan_50397.html