Saudi-led coalition aggression against Yemen has caused a significant rise in the number of people suffering from malnutrition, neonatal mortality, children, pregnant mothers and food insecurity in Yemen.
The years of aggression and economic blockade have led to growing food insecurity and acute malnutrition threatened the lives of half of children under the age of five this year.
The humanitarian crisis continues to inflict severe damage on children, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), UNICEF, the World Food Programme and the World Health Organisation ( WHO).
Malnutrition causes harm to the child’s physical and mental development, especially during the first two years of life. These damages are often permanent and lead to persistent situations of poverty and unequal opportunities.
According to a report issued by the Ministry of Public Health and Population, 4.7 million children under the age of five in Yemen suffer from malnutrition, including 360,000 suffering from acute malnutrition, aside from around 2.3 million malnourished mothers.
According to the report, the economic blockade has increased the suffering of malnutrition, putting more than 21 million citizens in need of humanitarian assistance.
More than nine million people on the brink of famine, according to WFP and FAO.
The report confirmed that 265,000 children have died each year from one of either visionary inflammation, diarrhoea, measles, malaria or malnutrition, as well as due to the lack of nurseries in many rural, peripheral, central and reference hospitals.
According to the report, 18 million people are suffering food insecurity, of whom 8.4 million are classified as severely food insecure.
The report indicated that 86 percent of Yemeni children under the age of five suffer from snaemia, 46% suffer from stunting and 80,000 have mental disorders due to aircraft sounds and rocket explosions.
According to the report, every two hours, six Yemeni babies die from deteriorating healthcare services, with 65 out of 1,000 children under the age of five dying due to some kind of disease.
For his part, Ministry of Public Health and Population spokesman Dr. Najib al-Qubati explained that the Saudi-led aggression and its economic blockade has contributed significantly to the high rate of malnutrition in Yemen.
He noted that international organisations have done little to address malnutrition in Yemen, especially in children and women, and have not provided ventilators or equipped intensive care to deal with critical conditions for malnourished patients.
The Ministry of Health had expanded the Community Treatment Programme for Acute Malnutrition in outpatient clinics by 371 to 3,597 clinics .
Al-Qubati said that nutritional surveillance centres have been opened, rehabilitated, and increased from 38 to 114 and provide treatment for acute, severe and moderate malnutrition cases for 1,800,000 children and 667,000 women in Yemen.
