WHEN wars rage, children become the most tragic and unnecessary victims. Among the worst horrors of the current Middle East conflict are the 170-plus people, most of them schoolgirls, killed in a missile attack on a school in southern Iran. This is an unimaginable toll that the world has somehow become inured to, especially in the wake of the Gaza war, when one child was killed every hour on average, for a grim total of well over 20,000, according to Save the Children.

As conflicts spread and threaten to endure indefinitely, children, even when not in the direct line of fire, will suffer incredibly.

This reminder of the bleak prognosis for the next generation came with reporting on Pakistan’s progress tackling polio. The country has much to celebrate as polio cases decline. But this paper last week reported that these gains may be lost due to the ongoing Pak-Afghan conflagration, as 120,000 children in southern KP are missing out on vaccinations due to the security situation. The virus rebound there could threaten a wider polio resurgence in the country.

Missed vaccinations are but one consequence for children raised amidst conflict. Malnourishment, birth defects due to war-linked pollution, disrupted schooling, long-term mental........

© Dawn