Among the 11 million children in need of humanitarian assistance in Yemen, and the 2.2 million suffering from malnutrition, “more than 540,000 children under the age of five are suffering from extreme acute malnutrition, potentially fatal,” he stressed in a press release publicizing the United Nations Children’s Fund.
Millions of children are at risk of acute malnutrition in Yemen unless funds are urgently released to help the war-torn country, where a child dies every ten minutes, UNICEF warned today.
Among the 11 million children in need of humanitarian assistance in Yemen, and the 2.2 million suffering from malnutrition, “more than 540,000 children under the age of five are suffering from extreme acute malnutrition, potentially fatal,” he stressed in a press release publicizing the United Nations Children’s Fund.
And “a child dies on average every ten minutes from preventable causes.”
UNICEF says it “urgently needs $484 million” in 2023 to continue its work in the Arabian Peninsula’s poorest country, which has been wracked by civil war since 2014.
“Unless urgent action is taken, millions of children will face a higher risk of malnutrition,” he warns.
“If it does not receive these funds, UNICEF may be forced to reduce its vital aid to vulnerable children,” he insists.
In late February, donor countries pledged $1.2 billion for Yemen’s population, much to the dismay of aid groups, which had appealed for more than $4 billion.
According to the United Nations, more than 21.7 million people — or in other words two-thirds of Yemen’s population — will need humanitarian assistance this year.
The war in Yemen broke out in 2014. In September of that year, the Iran-aligned Shiite Houthi rebels entered the capital Sanaa. Their rapid advance led to the intervention in March 2015 of neighboring Saudi Arabia, which led a military alliance that supported the internationally recognized government’s troops.
War has claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, directly or indirectly, and uprooted millions more.
More than 11,000 children were killed or maimed from 2015 to 2022, according to UNICEF.
The UN and aid agencies, which are facing a shortage of funding, are increasingly warning against the risk of large-scale famine in Yemen.
A UN-negotiated ceasefire that came into effect in April 2022 de-escalated the hostilities. Although it expired in October, as the parties did not reach an agreement to renew it, the fighting has not become widespread so far, remaining sporadic.
Source :Skai
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