Nearly 80% of all kids in Yemen are in need

Children are bearing the brunt of the conflict in Yemen, with 80% in desperate need of aid and two million suffering from acute malnutrition, the UN has warned.

Children are bearing the brunt of the conflict in Yemen, with 80% in desperate need of aid and two million suffering from acute malnutrition, the UN has warned.

The impact of war and hunger on the country’s 12.5 million young people has been compounded by what the directors of the World Health Organization, the UN Children’s Fund and the World Food Programme described in a joint statement as “the world’s worst cholera outbreak in the midst of the world’s largest humanitarian crisis”.

“This is a children’s crisis,” said Bismarck Swangin, a communication specialist for Unicef Yemen. “When you look at the number of children who are staring at death due to malnourishment, and now that is compounded by a cholera outbreak, children are not only being killed directly as a result of the conflict, but more children are at risk and could die from indirect consequences.”

Two years of conflict between the Saudi-led coalition and Houthi rebels have taken a heavy toll on Yemen, causing widespread internal displacement and leaving millions facing famine.