Children Starving in Yemen as Risk of War Continues

Hafsa Ahmed is two years old. As she lies on a hospital bed in Yemen, it is very difficult for her to breathe or open her eyes.

Hafsa is dying of starvation. She is the youngest of six children. One died from malnutrition¹. Her father Ahmed, 47, works as a day laborer². Each day he can pay for only some flour and cooking oil.

Ahmed and his family live in Hays, about 120 kilometers south of the port city of Hodeida. The town has seen some of the worst fighting in Yemen's war.

Mohammed Hussein is a 49-year-old father of five. They live in a camp for displaced people near the town of Abs in the northern Hajjah area. He said he has had to move four times since the war began in 2014.

"I lost my home, farmland, everything," he said over the phone.

Three years ago, he lost a 9-month-old son. Now, Hussein has a 1-year-old and a 3-year-old who are starving. "There is no money, and I am jobless," he said. "They could die also from hunger."

Dr. Nabouta Hassan directs the malnutrition area of the hospital in Hays. He said that every month it receives up to 30 children suffering from diseases related to severe malnutrition. He said that if children suffer too long from malnutrition, their organs stop working.

There are more than half a million children in Yemen who are severely³ malnourished. Overall, the United Nations says around 2.2 million Yemeni children are hungry. And about 1.3 million pregnant or breastfeeding women had severe malnutrition this year.

Worry about fighting

Hunger has long threatened the lives of hundreds of thousands of Yemen's children. Now, the eight-year war between Iran-backed Houthi rebels and a Saudi-led coalition⁴ is threatening to return after a six-month truce⁵.

Since the war started, more than 150,000 people have been killed and 3 million have had to leave their homes.

Yemenis, and international aid groups, worry that if fighting starts again, hunger and starvation will get worse. And the war in Ukraine is making the situation more difficult in Yemen.

Wheat is a very important part of the Yemeni diet. Forty percent of its grain came from Ukraine until Russia's invasion cut the supply.

Peter Salisbury is a Yemen expert at the International Crisis Group. He said the war in Ukraine has hurt Yemen three times. First, Yemen lost its food supplies from Ukraine. Then the war in Ukraine brings higher food and fuel prices and takes international attention away from Yemen.

Worldwide, the U.N. food agency has reduced the amount of food for millions of people because of a lack of money and higher food prices.

But the World Food Program has centered its attention on the 13.5 million Yemenis most at risk. The U.N. said that by the end of September, its aid plan for Yemen got $2 billion of the $4.27 billion needed to provide help to 17.9 million people. 

Words in This Story

malnutrition –n. lacking enough food to meet the needs of the body, often over a long period of time

flour –n. powdered grain used to make bread

organ –n. a part of the body which has a specific function, such as the heart, lungs, liver, and the like

1 malnutrition   

n.营养不良

参考例句：

• In Africa, there are a lot of children suffering from severe malnutrition.在非洲有大批严重营养不良的孩子。
• It is a classic case of malnutrition. 这是营养不良的典型病例。

2 laborer   

n.劳动者，劳工

参考例句：

• Her husband had been a farm laborer.她丈夫以前是个农场雇工。
• He worked as a casual laborer and did not earn much.他当临时工，没有赚多少钱。

3 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

4 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

5 truce   

n.休战，(争执，烦恼等的)缓和；v.以停战结束

参考例句：

• The hot weather gave the old man a truce from rheumatism.热天使这位老人暂时免受风湿病之苦。
• She had thought of flying out to breathe the fresh air in an interval of truce.她想跑出去呼吸一下休战期间的新鲜空气。