- Title: Childhood malnutrition reaches alarming levels in Yemen’s Hodeidah
- Date: 27th November 2016
- Summary: HODEIDAH, YEMEN (RECENT) (REUTERS) SIGN OUTSIDE HODEIDAH "AL THAWRA" HOSPITAL READING IN ARABIC "GENERAL REVOLUTION (AL THAWRA) HOSPITAL" PEOPLE AT ENTRANCE OF HOSPITAL VARIOUS OF 18-YEAR-OLD SEVERELY MALNOURISHED, SAIDA AHMED ALI BAGHILI, IN BED AT THE AL THAWRA (REVOLUTION) HOSPITAL IN THE PORT CITY OF HODEIDAH VARIOUS OF SEVERELY MALNOURISHED INFANT LYING ON A SCALE CRYING AND BEING WEIGHED BY A NURSE (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SUPERVISOR AT THE CENTRE FOR CHILDHOOD MALNUTRITION AT THAWRA HOSPITAL IN HODEIDAH, DR. RADA AL AREEQI, SAYING: "This centre was established about two years ago with support from the World Health Organization and is designed to admit up to 12 patients at a time and it's just not enough. Daily we receive about five patients or more, which means we treat up to 70 cases a month. Sometimes we have to get beds from the general paediatric department." MOTHERS SITTING BY THEIR MALNOURISHED INFANTS LAYING ON HOSPITAL BEDS MALNOURISHED CHILD CRYING MOTHER HOLDING HER MALNOURISHED CHILD TWO MALNOURISHED INFANTS LAYING ON A HOSPITAL BED MALNOURISHED CHILD LAYING ON HOSPITAL BED, SLEEPING SANAA, YEMEN (NOVEMBER 21, 2016) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) UNICEF SPOKESMAN IN SANAA, MOHAMMED AL ASADI, SAYING: "There are over 1.5 million children (in Yemen) suffering from malnutrition, at least 370,000 of them are suffering from acute and severe malnutrition. In Hodeidah alone, there are some 100,000 children suffering from acute, severe and deadly malnutrition. Children suffering from acute malnutrition face ten times higher risk of death than healthy children." UNICEF LOGO PAINTED ON A WHITE DOOR READING IN ARABIC "UNICEF, THE CHILDREN'S ORGANIZATION" (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) UNICEF SPOKESMAN IN SANAA, MOHAMMED AL ASADI, SAYING: "We have so far managed to treat more than 57 thousand children in Hodeidah governorate, in the villages, in the municipalities, across the governorate, through both the permanent health centres that exist as well as through the mobile teams. This is not enough. We have to double our efforts. The international community must play its role by funding the humanitarian relief efforts in Yemen. And of course we need peace in Yemen so that we can reach every child, and so that every child can have access to a variety of health services." ENTRANCE OF UNICEF BUILDING IN SANAA
- Embargoed: 12th December 2016 12:21
- Keywords: Yemen war famine malnutrition poverty
- Location: HODEIDAH AND SANNAA, YEMEN
- City: HODEIDAH AND SANNAA, YEMEN
- Country: Yemen
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace
- Reuters ID: LVA0015A7XVF9
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: At a local hospital in Yemen's port city of Hodeidah, the cries of starving and acutely malnourished children fill the hallways as helpless mothers sit by their children's hospital beds hoping and praying their babies will survive.
Hodeidah is witnessing alarming levels of childhood malnutrition, United Nations officials have warned as the country slips further into a humanitarian crisis that plunged millions of Yemenis into poverty.
More than 14 million people across Yemen are facing food shortages, unable to secure even their most basic nutritional needs, the World Food Programme has warned, as the civil war that has raged since March of last year, the main culprit behind the worsening humanitarian conditions, continues with no end in sight.
The centre for malnourished children set up two years ago at the General Revolution hospital in Hodeidah is overflowing with patients, and doctors warn they are working far beyond their capacity, unable to meet the needs of the growing number of starving children showing up at their doorstep.
"This centre was established about two years ago with support from the World Health Organization and is designed to admit up to 12 patients at a time and it's just not enough," said the centre's supervisor Dr. Rada al Areeqi.
"Daily we receive about five patients or more, which means we treat up to 70 cases a month."
UNICEF officials say there are over 1.5 million Yemeni children suffering from malnutrition, more than a third of them in advanced and acute stages.
"In Hodeidah alone, there are some 100,000 children suffering from acute, severe and deadly malnutrition. Children suffering from acute malnutrition face ten times higher risk of death than healthy children," said UNICEF's Yemen spokesman Mohammed al Asadi.
According to Asadi, some 57, 000 children have been treated for malnutrition so far.
"This is not enough. We have to double our efforts. The international community must play its role by funding the humanitarian relief efforts in Yemen. And of course we need peace in Yemen so that we can reach every child, and so that every child can have access to a variety of health services," said Asadi.
According to the WFP, some 7 million Yemenis are severely food insecure while in some governorates across the country, up to 70 percent of the population struggle to put food on the table.
In Hodeidah, about 31 percent of children under five years of age suffer from acute malnutrition.
Even before the war, Yemen was the poorest country in the Arab world. Since the Saudi-led coalition launched its offensive to restore the government of exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and oust the Iran-allied Houthis from power, the humanitarian situation has gone from bad to worse.
The war has so far killed more than 10,000 people, displaced more than 2 million others, devastated the economy and destroyed the health sector. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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