Emergency supplies to assist nearly 4,000 school-age children in the hardest hit areas of the dzud winter emergency in Mongolia were airlifted over the weekend in a joint effort by UNICEF and the Government of Mongolia.

This assistance will be followed by six overland truck convoys during the next few weeks, which will fan out to school dormitories in 22 villages in the six hardest-hit provinces of Khuvsgul, Uvs, Zavkhan, Gobi-Altai, Khovd and Bayan-Ulgii to reach children of rural families.

The supplies, including woollen blankets, warm footwear, hygiene kits and educational materials, are destined for children who live in school dormitories in the remote rural countryside where the dzud winter emergency has taken its most devastating toll on herder families.