UN warns: "War in Ukraine increases hunger in Yemen"

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When we got to the hospital I cried.

We thought he was going to die.

But now he is getting better every day, says Moayn's grandmother Umm Radwan Saleh to SVT.

Doctor Athmar Saleh wraps a tape measure around Moayn's thin upper arm.

The band's angry red color indicates that he is suffering from acute severe malnutrition.

Still, the development is going in the right direction for the boy, she states.

Malnutrition is increasing

More and more children who are ill with malnutrition are coming here to al Razi Hospital in the Yemeni capital Aden.

Children under the age of five are hardest hit by the lack of food, and doctors at the hospital say that hunger has increased in the last six months.

- Previously, famine was most prevalent in rural areas.

Now we see more and more cases even inside Aden, says Athmar Saleh. 

- There is food.

But people can not afford to buy the food they need, she says.

The war in Ukraine exacerbates hunger

The UN's food program WFP warns that Russia's invasion of Ukraine will exacerbate the hunger in Yemen when the prices of, among other things, wheat, cooking oil and fuel have been pushed up sharply during the more than two weeks of the war.

Seven years of war have created one of the world's worst humanitarian crises in Yemen.

More than two million children in the country need treatment for malnutrition - and 400,000 children are so severely malnourished that they risk dying.

The UN has called Yemen the most dangerous country in the world for a child to grow up in.

Ukraine major wheat exporter

At the same time, Russia and Ukraine account for 29 percent of the world's wheat production.

And an import-dependent country like Yemen is sensitive to higher wheat prices. 

- The escalating conflict in Ukraine will increase food prices in Yemen even more, says Mohamed Sheikh, head of the World Food Program in Aden to SVT.

In February, the WFP was forced to withdraw food aid to 8 million people in Yemen due to lack of money.

At present, the organization provides food assistance to five million people. 

- To cut rations in Yemen at this time is to put the lives of the most vulnerable at stake, says Mohammed Sheikh.

At al Razi Hospital in Aden, children are screaming through the pink-painted corridor.

Moayn Sultan's mother is also cared for for malnutrition, and therefore it is his grandmother who takes care of him around the clock.

The family comes from a village outside the capital Aden.

- It's not easy.

Food prices have risen a lot and the family is large.

But right now Moayn is feeling better and that is the most important thing, says Umm Radwan.

After ten days in the hospital, Moayn's weight has increased to 3.2 kilos.

Far too small for a child who is eight months old, the grandmother states.

- But now he smiles for the first time again and his gaze is awake.

It is such a relief, she says.

Still, there is concern that they may end up in the same situation again.

Half of Yemen's population suffers from food shortages and the family is not guaranteed help when they return to the village.