Dubai: More than two million Syrian children — equivalent to Dubai’s current population — have been added in just one year to Syria’s 6.5 million child refugees displaced and trapped in the crossfire in Syria.

Many of them have been deprived the right to go to school since the civil war broke out almost four years ago. They are suffering from lack of nutrition, lack of psycho-social support and protection.

As a response this Ramadan, the UAE Exchange on Wednesday affirmed its support for Unicef for its programmes for children in crisis areas by donating Dh100,000. This is the exchange house’s fourth consecutive donation to Unicef.

“Earlier most of our donations were going to African regions for malnourished children in that region. But in the last year or so because of what we see in countries like Iraq and Syria, these funds are going to take care of the children who are in need of support,” Y. Shudir Kumar Shetty, COO-Global Operations at UAE Exchange, told Gulf News.

“If these children are not taken care of, it will create social problems in the times to come. If we don’t put in an effort now, I think it will be too late,” he added.

Dr Ebrahim Al Ziq, Unicef Gulf Area Representative, welcomed the donation at a time when it is needed most.

“It will certainly help a number of children but I can’t give a specific number because we have comprehensive programmes for children. A child who needs nutrition is the same child who needs education, who needs water and protection. So to give a comprehensive package, we need to make sure that we cover all these areas,” Dr Al Ziq told Gulf News.

According to a statement released by Unicef earlier this month, the agency’s ability to continue providing assistance to children is threatened due to a lack of funding. The agency currently has a gap of $487 million (Dh1,788 million) to cover its emergency programmes for children inside Syria and in neighbouring countries by end of 2014.

“This Dh100,000 will certainly help us and complement the money that we have to reach as many children as we can,” Dr Al Ziq said.