UN: Hundreds of thousands of Yemen children will die within months

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) yesterday warned that children in Yemen would die within “months” due to lack of humanitarian assistance.

“Without urgent action, hundreds of thousands of children in Yemen will die in the coming months,” OCHA said on Twitter.

Without urgent action, hundreds of thousands of children in Yemen will die in the coming months.
Take an inside look at the daily work of doctors & nurses on the front lines, fighting to prevent famine. #YemenCantWait https://t.co/xe6T34wU98

— UN Humanitarian (@UNOCHA) January 4, 2021

UN organisations operating in Yemen have been suffering from a lack of  international funding, which was reported to have negatively affected the operations of several humanitarian programmes in the war-torn country.

The UN recently said that the continuation of the conflict and lack of humanitarian funding would lead to a “spread of hunger across Yemen.”

Yemen has been mired in war since the Houthis ousted the internationally-recognised government from power in the capital Sanaa in late 2014, prompting a Saudi-led coalition to intervene in March 2015. The conflict has resulted in some 24 million Yemenis – 80  per cent of the population – relying on aid, while 20 million others lack sufficient food and access to clean water. Even before the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, the healthcare system had collapsed.

The UN has repeatedly said that Yemen is the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

READ: Yemen: Over 1,000 Houthis killed, wounded in battles near Taiz during 2020