Dhaka, March 22 -- UNICEF is launching a campaign to raise funds for malnourished children in Bangladesh in the Islamic month of Ramadan, the first such effort by the UN agency.

The drive is an appeal "to the growing and increasingly affluent middle classes who are more and more able to donate towards helping children in their own country", it said in a statement on Wednesday.

The Bangladesh economy is strong and after attaining lower-middle-income country status in 2015 it aims to become an upper-middle-income country by 2031. UNICEF noted that Bangladesh is now less reliant on foreign aid.

"The economic progress in Bangladesh has created enhanced opportunities for us to take care of the underprivileged section of our population, and ...