About 24 per cent of Venezuela's population - seven million people - are in dire need of humanitarian aid, according to an internal UN report that showed malnutrition and disease were on the rise as living conditions plummet.
The report obtained by AFP on Thursday was presented this week to President Nicolas Maduro's government, which has blamed US sanctions for Venezuela's economic crisis, and to opposition leader Juan Guaido.
The "Overview of Priority Humanitarian Needs" lays out detailed data on the scale of the humanitarian crisis that is rocking Venezuela as the United Nations seeks to enlist support to step up its response.
"Seven million people - or about 24 per cent of the total population currently living in the country - are estimated to have urgent priority needs for assistance and protection," the 45-page report said.
The UN says seven million people are in dire need of humanitarian aid in Venezuela. Source: The New York Times
More than 94 per cent of the population lived in poverty in 2018, including 60 per cent who lived in extreme poverty, according to a survey by three universities in Caracas quoted in the report.
One of the greatest impacts of the crisis has been on nutrition, with consumption of meat and vegetables dropping between 2014 and 2017.
Milk, in particular, dropped by 77 per cent.
Some 3.7 million people suffer from undernourishment in the country - three times the rate from the 2010-2012 period, according to UN estimates.
At least 22 per cent of children under five suffer from chronic malnutrition.
Preventable diseases such as tuberculosis, diphtheria, measles and malaria have resurfaced and are on the rise as is hepatitis A due to the lack of access to safe drinking water.
People attend an event of Venezuelan National Assembly President Juan Guaido, in Montalban, south Caracas, Venezuela. Source: AP
Unprecedented challenges
The report stated: "Due to an increasingly contracted economy and political unrest, the Venezuelan population is facing unprecedented challenges in accessing essential services, including protection, health care, medicines, vaccinations, water, electricity, education and access to food."
Average wages have collapsed, and the outflow of people including professionals and technicians from all sectors have exacerbated the drop in living conditions.
About 5,000 people leave the country every day, with some 10 per cent of the population - more than 3.4 million people - now living as migrants or refugees in neighboring countries, it said.
About one third of the country's doctors, 22,000, have migrated out of Venezuela.
Some 300,000 people are at risk because they are unable to access medicines or treatment for more than a year including Venezuelans on dialysis, afflicted by Parkinson's disease or living with HIV.
A study by UNICEF found that 48 per cent of children and teenagers enrolled in schools were at risk of dropping out because they are unable to attend classes regularly.
The United Nations moved to scale up relief efforts in Venezuela late last year, launching a strategy to reach 3.6 million people, but the report indicated that effort was falling short.
"The limited scope and funding of the scale-up strategy, as well as continuing changes in the situation, including the impact of power outages in March 2019, have made clear that much more action is required to meet the growing needs of the Venezuelan people," it said.
Last month, deadly clashes broke out at Venezuela's border with Colombia and Brazil over opposition demands to let in humanitarian aid.
People walk in a street in the dark during a power outage in Caracas, Venezuela. Source: EFE
"The politicisation of humanitarian assistance in the context of the crisis makes delivery of assistance in accordance with the principles of neutrality, impartiality and independence more difficult," said the report.
