2 Million Children in Yemen Could Fall Victim to Malnourishment
Almost 2.3 million of Yemen’s children under the age of five are projected to fall victim to acute malnutrition in 2021, United Nations agencies warned Friday.
The physical and cognitive damage malnutrition showers on children in their first two years is “largely irreversible,” the agencies say.
“The increasing number of children going hungry in Yemen should shock us all into action,” said UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore. “More children will die with every day that passes without action.”
Compounding the children's malnutrition is the malnutrition of Yemen’s 1.2 million pregnant or breastfeeding women.
“Families in Yemen have been in the grip of conflict for too long, and more recent threats such as COVID-19 have only been adding to their relentless plight,” said Food and Agriculture Organization Director-General QU Dongyu. “Without security and stability across the country, and improved access to farmers so that they are provided with the means to resume growing enough and nutritious food, Yemen’s children and their families will continue to slip deeper into hunger and malnutrition.”
“The crisis in Yemen is a toxic mix of conflict, economic collapse and a severe shortage of funding to provide the life-saving help that’s desperately needed, World Food Program Executive Director David Beasley said in a statement. “But there is a solution to hunger, and that’s food and an end to the violence. If we act now, then there is still time to end the suffering of Yemen’s children.”
Source: Voice of America
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