UN agency reports dire conditions for Yemeni children
December 12, 2016
Some 2.2 million Yemeni children are hungry and in need of urgent care with one child dying every ten minutes due to malnutrition, diarrhoea or respiratory tract infections, UNICEF has reported.
Image: Reuters/K. Abdullah
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UNICEF said on Monday that at least 462,000 children were suffering from Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) - which means they were extremely underweight for their height, also known as "stunting." This is an increase of almost 200 percent since 2014.
An additional 1.7 million children were suffering from Moderate Acute Malnutrition, the UN agency said.
These figures are at an "all time high," UNICEF said in a statement.
The Sa'ada governorate in the northwest of Yemen reported the world's highest stunting rates, affecting eight out of 10 children in some areas.
Other governorates - Hodeida, Taizz, Hajjah and Lahej - were also badly affected after 20 months of war. Yemen's health system is on the verge of collapse, UNICEF added.
Yemen: Girl recovers from malnutrition
In war-torn Yemen, 18-year-old Saida suffered from malnutrition for years. These photos document her slow recovery.
Image: Reuters/K. Abdullah
Alarming evidence of misery in Yemen
This image of 18-year-old Saida Ahmad Baghili, sitting on her bed at Al-Thawra in the Red Sea Port city of Hodeida shows her malnourished, emaciated body. It has come to stand for the worsening humanitarian crisis in Yemen.
Image: Reuters/A. Zeyad
Saida smiles - after weeks of treatment
Saida was transferred to a hospital in the capital, Sanaa. After weeks of hospital care, she can at least smile, though she can still barely speak and continues to find eating difficult at times. Her father is still worried: "She doesn't eat anything except liquid medical food. She used to drink juice and milk with bananas but now she can't. We don't know when she'll recover."
Image: Reuters/A. Zeyad
A lifelong condition
Doctors believe her condition has damaged her throat. When her family first brought Saida to a hospital, she could barely keep her eyes open or stand. "We admitted Saida to find out the cause of her inability to eat," her doctor said. "Her health issue remains chronic and her bones remain fragile due to stunted growth. In all likelihood, they will never return to normal."
Image: Reuters/A. Zeyad
Finally gaining weight
Her father, Ahmed, who is staying nearby to be with his daughter, said his daughter's weight has reached 16 kilograms (35 pounds), five kilos more than when she was first admitted to hospital. He said Saida's situation was alarming before the war, which began in March 2015. Yemen's crisis including widespread hunger was brought on by decades of poverty and internal strife.
Image: Reuters/K. Abdullah
Food insecurity
About half of Yemen's 28 million people are "food insecure," according to the United Nations, and 7 million of them do not now where they will get their next meal. The US-based Famine Early Warning Systems Network, run by the US Agency for International Development, estimated that a quarter of all Yemenis are probably in a food security "emergency" - one stage before "catastrophe" or famine.
Image: Reuters/K. Abdullah
Saida out of the hospital
The war has pushed the Arab world's poorest nation to the brink of famine and displaced over three million people. Areas worst affected by the conflict are parts of Taiz province and southern coastal areas of the Hodeida province, where Saida is from.
Image: Reuters/K. Abdullah
One reason for undersupply
Restrictions imposed on the entry of ships after the start of the war in Yemen had raised insurance premiums and cut the number of vessels entering the port by more than half. About a million tons of food supplies entered through Hodeida in 2015, a third as much as in 2014.
Image: Reuters/F. Al Nassar
Yemeni women call attention to disaster
Yemeni women are holding banners depicting suffering, malnourished children. They protest against a UN roadmap for the Yemen conflict, which is calling for naming a new vice president after the withdrawal of the Houthi rebels from Sanaa. Since the beginning of the war, at least 10,000 people have been killed in Yemen.
Image: picture alliance/Yahya Arhab/E
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"Malnutrition in Yemen is at an all-time high and increasing," Meritxell Relano, UNICEF acting representative in Yemen, said in a statement. "The state of health of children in the Middle East's poorest country has never been as catastrophic as it is today," she added.
Even before the escalation of fighting in March last year, Yemen experienced widespread poverty, food shortages and a dearth of health services.
Limited access
Aid agencies said they have limited access to the areas where fighting is most intense. "We call on parties to the conflict to give us unhindered access to children in need across the country so we are able to deliver nutrition supplies, treat malnourished children and support Yemen's health services," said Relano.
This year, UNICEF has supported the treatment of 215,000 children suffering from SAM across Yemen and provided more than 4 million children under the age of five with vitamin supplements to boost their immunity.
Funding continues to be a challenge. In 2017, UNICEF needs $70 million (65.7 million euros) to provide the much-needed nutrition services to mothers and children across Yemen.
