Supervisor Elham AbolFateh
Editor in Chief Mohamed Wadie

UNICEF: Aid Shortage Threatens Lives of Children in Yemen


Fri 26 Jun 2020 | 04:16 PM
Ahmed Moamar

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has warned that the severe shortage of humanitarian aid in Yemen, due to the Coronavirus ,threatens additional numbers of children with death from malnutrition.

Millions of children in Yemen could be on the brink of starvation, according to the report published today, Friday, because the severe shortage of humanitarian aid funding in the light of the COVID- 19 pandemic.

The report warns that the health sector devastated by civil war and deteriorating infrastructure in Yemen. It was issued on the occasion of outbreak of the civil war in Yemen.

The UNICEF's report continued to say that an additional 30,000 children can develop severe acute malnutrition that threatens life over the next six months.

It also suggested that the total number of malnourished children under the age of five rise to of 2.4 million, nearly half of the number of children under the age of five in the country, a 20 percent increase.

Poor conditions may lead to the deaths of an additional 6,600 children under the age of five "for preventable causes. By the end of the year, death rate may increase by 28 percent.

The United Nations collected $ 1.35 billion in humanitarian aid for Yemen this month at a donor conference hosted by Saudi Arabia, but this figure is equivalent to about half of the $ 2.41 billion in funding required.

The report warns that unless $ 54.5 million of this amount is received for health and nutrition services by the end of August, 23,500 children with severe acute malnutrition will face an increased risk of death.

The organization called for urgent assistance worth $ 461 million for its humanitarian response in Yemen with an additional $ 53 million to deal with the emerging Corona virus.

The pandemic started to spread in Yemen early in May, causing the death of 275 people, but the real number of victims may be much higher due to the inability of Yemeni health institutions to determine the causes of death in many cases.