Tuesday, December 13, 2016

The Yemeni tragedy

UNICEF said at least one child in Yemen dies every 10 minutes because of malnutrition, diarrhoea and respiratory-tract infections.

New figures indicate that hunger among children has reached an "all-time high", with at least 462,000 suffering from severe acute malnutrition. Nearly 2.2 million in need of urgent care.

Saada governorate, the most heavily bombed region in Yemen, has the world's highest stunting rates among children, affecting eight out of 10 in some areas, it said. Stunting - where a child is short for their age - is another sign of chronic malnourishment and has irreversible consequences for both physical health and cognitive function. The conflict has also taken a devastating toll on Yemen's health system which is on the verge of collapse, UNICEF says in the report. Humanitarian groups have struggled to deliver aid to large parts of the country. Several medical facilities have been damaged or destroyed.


A coalition assembled by Saudi Arabia launched an air campaign against the fighters in March 2015. Since then, more than 10,000 people have been killed and millions driven from their homes.

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