HUNGER STRIKED IN YEMEN
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YOUTH UPDATE!!
YEMENI YOUTH
More than 300,000 children going hungry in Yemen: UN
At least 14 million Yemenis are
going hungry, with at least 370,000 children suffering from malnutrition, UN
says.
More than 370,000 children are at risk of starvation in Yemen, the United
Nations has said, 15 months into a devastating war.
According to new UN figures, more than 14 million people, about half of the
population, are going hungry and are in urgent need of food and medical aid.
Some 500,000
children under the age of five are suffering from malnutrition, with two thirds
of them so sick they could die if they don't receive immediate assistance, the
UN said.
"At least
370,000 children are suffering from severe acute
malnutrition," Mohammed al-Asaadi, a spokesman for the UN children's
agency in Yemen told Al Jazeera on Wednesday.
"We're talking about a 50 percent increase compared to the number we
had earlier this year."
Severe acute
malnutrition is a major cause of death for children under the age of five, and
is apparent when a child has a very low weight for their height and becomes
visibly frail and skeletal.
Yemen has been torn apart by conflict since 2014, when Houthi rebels, allied
with troops loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, captured
large swaths of the country, including the capital Sanaa.
A coalition led by Saudi Arabia launched an air campaign against the rebels
in March 2015. Since then, more than 9,000 people have been killed and 2.8
million driven from their homes.
The cost of food has skyrocketed since the start of the war, Asaadi
said, with dramatic inflation in food and fuel prices leaving the poor
vulnerable.
"The people are unable to buy food. Good crops could help the
situation, but millions are out of work and countless more displaced. Until
inflation is addressed the situation will continue to deteriorate."
Taqwa Mohammad, a resident of Hodeidah, a Houthi-occupied city in west
Yemen told Al Jazeera, that the hike in food prices was having a devastating
impact on her children.
"I can't afford milk or medicine for the children. If one of them gets
sick, I can't take him to the doctor, I borrow fever and cough medicines from
the neighbours."
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