UN warns of surging child malnutrition in Yemen

DUBAI: A United Nations task force on Sunday warned of soaring child malnutrition in Yemen’s government-controlled areas, reporting “extremely critical” levels of malnutrition in parts of the country’s south for the first time.
“The number of children under the age of five suffering acute malnutrition, or wasting, rose by 34 per cent compared to the previous year … affecting over 600,000 children, including 120,000 children who are severely malnourished,” Unicef said of the latest report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) initiative, of which it is a part.
Yemen has been engulfed in a devastating conflict since 2014 between the internationally recognised government, supported by a Saudi-led military coalition, and the Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
The turmoil has plunged the country, already the poorest in the Arabian Peninsula before the war, into one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world. “The sharp rise is driven by the compounded effect of disease outbreaks (cholera and measles), high food insecurity, limited access to safe drinking water, and economic decline,” the UN children’s agency added.
The IPC data covers 117 government-controlled areas, all of which are expected to experience high levels of malnutrition between July and October. Some areas have been categorised as having “extremely critical” levels of acute malnutrition, the most severe rating with a prevalence above 30 percent, for the first time.
“The report confirms an alarming trend,” said Unicef representative in Yemen, Peter Hawkins, as several international organisations have scaled back their operations in the country due to a lack of funding.
The World Food Programme “is currently forced to provide smaller-sized rations and these findings should be a wakeup call that lives are at stake,” said Pierre Honnorat, the agency’s Yemen director.
“It is critical to step up support to the most vulnerable who could sink deeper into food insecurity and malnutrition if current low levels of humanitarian funding persist,” he warned.
The war between the Saudi-backed government and Iran-aligned Houthis, stalemated for years, has caused the economic collapse of the already widely impoverished Arabian Peninsula country and one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
The number of children in Yemen under the age of five suffering acute malnutrition, or wasting, has risen by 34 per cent compared with the previous year across government-controlled areas, the report said. This equated to some 600,000 children, including 120,000 who were severely malnourished.
For the first time, it said, “extremely critical” acute malnutrition level was reported in the southern Hodeidah lowlands, including the Al Khawkhah and Hays districts, fringing Yemen’s Red Sea coast, as well as the Al Makha district of the Taiz lowlands between November 2023 and June 2024.
The report did not say whether there had been any recent deaths from severe hunger or what conditions were like in Houthi-held areas of the country.
Houthi forces hold most large urban centres of Yemen including the capital Sanaa while the Saudi-backed government is based in Aden in the south.
The Riyadh-led coalition intervened in Yemen in March 2015 after the Houthis ousted the government from Sanaa. The Houthis say they are fighting a corrupt system and foreign aggression.
The multi-faceted conflict, in which several factions are vying for power, has killed tens of thousands of people.
Published in Dawn, August 19th, 2024