Yemeni children suffer of acute malnutrition

YemenExtra

The lives of thousands of children and women are at stake, rising rates of acute malnutrition put too many women and children at risk while the consequences will be felt by Yemen for generations to come.

Yemeni children are suffering acute malnutrition at unprecedented rates as the world’s worst.

Yemen remains the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. Nearly 80 percent of the population – over 24 million people – require some form of humanitarian assistance and protection.

At least a quarter of a million pregnant or breastfeeding women are also in need of treatment for malnutrition.

A dangerous combination of factors, driven by War and economic decline, compound the situation for Yemen’s youngest children.

“We’ve been warning since July that Yemen is on the brink of a catastrophic food security crisis,” said Ms. Lise Grande, the Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen. “If the war doesn’t end now, we are nearing an irreversible situation and risk losing an entire generation of Yemen’s young children.

Those predictions, from what we are gathering on the ground, are likely to be an underestimate. It is highly likely that the situation is worse than initially projected as conditions continue to worsen beyond the forecast levels.