By Vanessa Cort

THE images are haunting and heart-rending – acutely malnourished children crying and wasting away in the hapless arms of their equally undernourished mothers.
Yet the civil war that has caused this untold suffering – where over 11,000 children have died since it began 10 years ago – is being forgotten along with its beleaguered population.
While factions, backed by Saudi Arabia and Iran fight, and arms pour into the country, aid agencies face challenges of distributing food and other supplies to those who need them the most. Travel around the country is severely limited by government and military restrictions.

In addition to this, the deteriorating economy has gravely affected the conditions under which people live and their access to medical services, some of which are non-existent at the community level.
According to the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the health system in Yemen has almost collapsed, with only 51 per cent of health facilities considered fully functional.

And the tale of woe continues, as reports of hospitals overwhelmed by patients who should be able to receive treatment at the primary-care level, pour in. Many display severe medical conditions, which could have been avoided if patients had received adequate primary care.
But as always in such conflict situations – in this case mainly between the Rashid al-Alini led Presidential Leadership Council and the Mahdi al-Mashat-led Supreme Political Council along with their supporters and allies – it is the children who suffer the most.

According to Doctors Without Boders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), “Malnutrition is a persistent risk to children in Yemen.”
Seasonal and annual peaks, linked to the “lean season” caused by the disruption of agricultural production, has worsened as a result of the ongoing conflict, exacerbating food insecurity among already vulnerable people.

However, causes of malnutrition in the country go beyond food insecurity as many families cannot afford nutritious food because of soaring prices. May have lost their homes and paid work due to the war and the rising cost of transportation further prevents access to sufficient food.
The MSF also reports that, “There is also great need to increase access to information for prenatal and post-natal care, which are directly linked to preventing malnutrition.” In addition, the importance of breastfeeding is largely unknown, along with the need for basic vaccinations.

This is compounded by the fact that, “Parents also don’t have access to information about identifying the initial symptoms of malnutrition, which delays its detection.”
The doctors are concerned with an increase in the number of malnourished children with medical complications visiting their facilities, noting a 65 per cent increase in 2023 as compared to the same period last year.

And the numbers are alarming: 15,160 children admitted to paediatric wards; 111,523 patients treated for war and violence-related injuries and 217,169 patients received in the emergency room.
Most damning of all is the MSF’s assertion, “Malnutrition will continue to be an issue of concern in Yemen, as it causes preventable deaths particularly of children under five years old.”
The agency had called on health authorities organizations and other “health actors” to work to improve the “scope and efficiency of nutritional surveillance countrywide” and also to help build community health awareness to detect early signs of malnutrition cases.”

This all costs money and would seem an insurmountable task given that as of January this year the United Nations health cluster opted to cut its provision of incentives, including pay, for health workers in Yemen by 60 per cent, due to a decrease in funding for the country.
This is indeed a tragedy, when one considers the fantastic sums being made available to the Ukraine in its war with Russia.

The developed world needs to examine its collective conscience and hear the words of a young Yemeni boy, Ahmed Abdu, who was six when the war began – “Before the war you could eat whatever you wanted – chicken, chocolate bars, anything… now it’s a bit of tea and just a handful of food, one bite only.”