400,000 Yemeni children in danger of death

15 February 2021

UN agencies have warned that about 400,000 children under the age of five are in danger of dying of acute malnutrition in war-torn and impoverished Yemen. They say that half of those in the most vulnerable age bracket, or 2.3 million small children, are projected to suffer from severe malnutrition this year.

World Food Programme chief David Beasley said these numbers are yet another cry for help from Yemen where each malnourished child also means a family struggling to survive. The number of Yemeni children in danger of death from lack of food has increased to 400,000, an increase of 22 % over 2020.

Henrietta Fore, head of the United Nations children’s agency UNICEF says more children will die with every day that passes without action. UNICEF estimates that virtually all of Yemen’s 12 million children require some sort of assistance. This can include food aid, health services, clean water, schooling and cash grants to help the poorest families scrape by.

Adapted from trtworld

LT