Yemen: thousands of children on the brink of famine, warns UNICEF

Salwa Ibrahim, who weighs only 3 kg at age 5, accompanied by his father in a health center in the province of Hajjah, on June 23, 2020. ESSA AHMED / AFP

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The United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) is raising a new alarm cry: millions of children are currently threatened by famine in Yemen, which has been in the grip of war for more than five years.

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Millions of children in Yemen are at risk of being "  on the verge of starvation  " because of the lack of aid in the country at war, where the Covid-19 epidemic is spreading , says UNICEF in a report.

2.4 million malnourished children by the end of 2020

In the absence of humanitarian funding in particular, the number of malnourished children could reach 2.4 million by the end of the year, an increase of 20% and the mortality rate among children under five could also increase.

Triggered more than five years ago , the conflict pits the government, supported by Saudi Arabia, against the Houthi rebels, supported by Iran. For the UN, the humanitarian crisis in this poor country on the Arabian peninsula is the worst in the world.

"The first thing to do is obviously to stop this war"

"  Five years of tragic civil war have decimated the Yemeni population and left its infrastructure completely drained, whether it is the health system or the economic system," explains Sébastien Lyon, the director general of Unicef ​​France. In Yemen today, 90% of the food available is imported. The farming system is completely in tatters. And there recently, adding to all this, there is in addition an epidemic of locusts that the country is unable to contain given the terrible situation in which it finds itself. The first thing to do is obviously to stop this war which is tragic and which has lasted too long. So the first request of UNICEF is obviously that all the parties to the conflict finally manage to get around a table. There have been many attempts that have taken place in recent years, but without success. A solution must really be found quickly, because the situation deteriorates very quickly.  "

The organization has requested aid of $ 461 million (almost € 411 million) for its humanitarian action in the country and an additional $ 53 million (more than € 47 million) to combat the Covid-19. . Despite the urgency, only 39% of the first amount and 10% of the second have been collected to date, according to Unicef ​​which is sounding the alarm on the reduction of its programs in the field.

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  • Yemen
  • Humanitarian
  • Food
  • UN

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