Completing a four-day visit to Pakistan Sunday, Valerie Amos, U.N. undersecretary-general for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, said millions of people need assistance for healthcare, education, agricultural support and to build rebuild their homes and livelihoods.

"The world's attention is waning at a time when some of the biggest challenges are still to come," said Amos in a news release.

The July-August floods, the worst natural disaster in Pakistan's history, killed nearly 1,800 people and displaced 21 million others.

So far, the United Nations has received about half of its $1.94 billion appeal target.

The U.S. military formally ended its relief mission to flood-stricken Pakistan, it was announced Thursday but officials stressed that the government would continue with financial relief for flood victims, saying that it is providing more than $571 million.

While some displaced families have returned to their villages, they live in tents and makeshift structures that don't protect them adequately from the elements. And with a shortage of food, children are going hungry, making them more vulnerable to pneumonia and other diseases, Save the Children said.

In the Swat district in the northwestern province of Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa, temperatures are already below freezing.

"Winter will bring with it new threats for children and their families -- areas are likely to be cut off and the cold will sharply increase the numbers of acute respiratory infections and exacerbate high rates of malnutrition, which are two of the biggest killers of children," Sarah Crowe, regional spokeswoman for UNICEF South Asia, told IRIN, the U.N. humanitarian news agency.

A lack of resources is hampering relief and rehabilitation efforts.

"We have started to try and meet those changing needs with the distribution of winter clothing for children but lack of funds is preventing us from doing our job effectively," Crowe said.

"There is a real sense that the world has forgotten Pakistan's children. Funds that were trickling in have now virtually stopped … this emergency is not over for children here, it has just evolved," Crowe said.

Amos said levels of malnutrition are as high as 40 percent in some parts of Pakistan and millions of people are still in dire need of healthcare.

"The world must not close its eyes to the needs of the Pakistani people. We must continue to help the most vulnerable families. They want a future for their children," said Amos.

earlier related report
US drone attack kills five militants in Pakistan: officials
Miranshah, Pakistan (AFP) Dec 6, 2010 - Missiles fired from a US drone on a vehicle and a house killed five militants in Pakistan's lawless northwestern tribal belt near the Afghan border on Monday, security officials said.

The missile strike took place in Khysore village, 35 kilometres (20 miles) east of Miranshah, the main town of troubled North Waziristan tribal district.

"A US drone fired four missiles on a house and a vehicle," a senior Pakistani security official told AFP. "At least five militants were killed."

A local intelligence and security official confirmed the strike and casualties.

"First the US drone fired two missiles on a militant vehicle and two of the occupants were killed, while three others escaped and hid in a shop adjacent to a house.

"The drone fired two more missiles on the shop and three of them were killed and three others were wounded," the official said.

A covert US drone campaign in Pakistan has been stepped up over the last few months with strikes in the tribal belt, which Washington considers the most dangerous place on earth, taking place with increasing frequency.

More than 250 people have been killed in 49 strikes since September 3, heightening tensions with Islamabad over reported US criticism of Pakistan's failure so far to launch a ground offensive in North Waziristan.

The United States does not as a rule confirm drone attacks, but its military and the Central Intelligence Agency operating in Afghanistan are the only forces that deploy the aircraft in the region.

Officials in Washington say drone strikes are highly effective in the war against Al-Qaeda and its Islamist allies, killing a number of high-value targets, including the Pakistani Taliban's founding father Baitullah Mehsud.

The leadership of the Haqqani network, which is linked to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, is also based in North Waziristan.

It has been accused of plotting some of the deadliest attacks on US troops in Afghanistan, including a suicide bombing that killed seven CIA operatives at a US base in Khost last December.

Pakistan's foreign ministry said recently it would reject any overtures seeking to spread the drone campaign beyond the tribal areas, amid US press reports that Washington wanted to expand the zones inside Pakistan where the pilotless aircraft are allowed to operate.

The Pakistani Taliban have claimed responsibility for a number of arson and gun attacks on NATO supply convoys destined for Afghanistan, saying they are in revenge for the drone war.

Washington has attempted to soothe anti-Americanism, which is rife throughout Pakistan, with increased civilian aid to help the country overcome devastating summer floods.

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