Amal Hussein , a Yemeni Girl, Dies Due to Acute Malnutrition.

YemenExtra

SH.A.

Amal Hussein, 7 year old Yemeni girl, whose photograph in the New York Times last week became a symbol of Yemen’s humanitarian has sadly passed away. Her family said that she died due to acute malnutrition.

Amal’s image gave goosebumps to crores of people across the world and also brought attention to lakhs of children suffering from malnutrition owing to the aftermath of Yemen’s devastating Saudi-led war.

The image, taken by Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Tyler Hicks, showed the undernourished girl lying on a clinic bed on October 18, the snap gave goosebumps to crores of people across the world and also brought attention to lakhs of children suffering from malnutrition owing to the aftermath of the Saudi-led war on Yemen.

“Amal was always smiling. Now I’m worried for my other children,” Amal’s mother said.

Amal is only one of scores of children to die amid a deeply controversial war waged by Saudi Arabia in Yemen.

Since 2015, thousands of civilians, mostly children and women have been killed by Saudi airstrikes. Reports say that the Saudi-led coalition is committing daily crimes in Yemen.

The Saudi war has resulted in bringing famine to more than 14 million Yemeni civilian, which is half the population. According to Oxfam, a civilian is being killed because of the war every three hours. Moreover, the UN says that a child dies every 10 minutes due to starvation.

In addition to swelling civilian casualties, the Saudi-led war has contributed to a massive famine and outbreaks of disease such as cholera and diphtheria.

The United Nations experts from the World Food Programme have expressed grave concerns over the coalition’s bombing of civilian areas and the partial blocking of food supplies and relief aids to Yemen which has put 12 million men, women and children at a serious risk of starvation, leading to a famine-like situation in the war-torn nation.