Yemen's children face famine as war rages on

Malnourished A Yemeni child suffering from malnutrition is lying on a bed in a treatment center of a hospital in the capital Sanaa on October 6, 2018. Photo by Mohaemmed Huwais / AFP

SANAA, Yemen – Ahmed Hassan is only a few months old, but his emaciated frame flinches as he cries in pain when Yemeni doctors place him gently on a scale. He is starving.

In the next room, the nurses prepare the infant formula with the pitcher, filling syringes to distribute a portion for each malnourished child who goes to Sabaeen Hospital, in the capital at the hands. rebels, for emergency treatment.

Too weak to be swallowed, some babies are fed through feeding probes that pass directly through the nose into the stomach.

After being fed, some seem to feel a bit better, crawling to play with other emaciated kids from the clinic, tubes still stuck to the face.

"Life has become really difficult … but we are doing our best, given the circumstances," said Umm Tarek, while his 9-month-old baby was being treated for malnutrition.

"We are not here, so we rented an old house for 10,000 riyals ($ 40) in Hiziaz," she told Agence France-Presse.

"Then my baby got sick because we gave him powdered milk, but we can no longer afford to buy both the house and the milk powder."

Four years of war between the Yemeni government backed by Saudis and Huthi rebels has pushed the country to the brink of starvation.

The United Nations warned last week that 14 million Yemenis are at serious risk of famine, with the war showing no signs of decline.

Mark Lowcock, UN humanitarian officer, said Monday that the danger of starvation in Yemen is "far greater than anything professionals in this sector have seen during their working lives".

"At the door of death"

Pediatrician Sharaf Nashwan of Sabaeen Hospital said some families could not afford to pay for transportation to the facility.

"So their children are left for days or weeks suffering from malnutrition, until someone helps them with some money to take their children to the hospital. But by then, we are looking at a really serious case, "he said.

According to the World Health Organization, nearly 10,000 people have been killed in Yemen and more than 56,000 have been injured since 2015.

This month, the UN called for a humanitarian ceasefire around the facilities involved in the distribution of food aid, but neither the rebels backed by Iran, nor the United Nations. Saudi Arabia and its allies have responded to the call.

Both sides are fighting for control of the country, which shares a land border with Saudi Arabia and is home to many valuable ports.

The rebels now control the capital Sanaa, as well as most of the highlands of northern Yemen and Hodeida, Yemen's largest port through which nearly three-quarters of imports pass.

The Saudi-led coalition, which controls Yemen's airspace, has imposed a blockade at the port and airport of Sanaa.

Yemenis struggling to survive in such conditions are also facing a collapsed economy, leaving government employees and teachers unpaid for months.

The International Monetary Fund predicts that Yemen's economy will contract by 2.6% in 2018, while inflation is expected to reach 42%.

Nashwan, a pediatrician, said the medical staff was doing their best to save the children in their care.

"The cases we encounter at the hospital tend to be serious, sometimes at the door of death, we do our job, we do everything we can to get them back to good health," he said. declared.

"Some are fine, others are dying." – Rappler.com