New Delhi: Around 85,000 children below the age of five years have died from malnutrition since the escalation of the Yemen war in March 2015, as per an international humanitarian aid agency.
Last month, the UN had estimated that 14 million people – around half of the population of Yemen – were at risk of famine due to the blockade imposed by Saud-led gulf forces.
The gulf coalition had closed off all access points to Yemen in November 2017. Thereafter, there was a 30-day window in December for ports to re-open. But it took another four months for the coalition to announce that all sea, air and land ports were fully open.
There has been a renewed coalition forces attack this month on the port of Hodeidah, which is the entry point for more than 70% of foreign assistance, food aid and commercial goods.
Since the blockade, 20 vessels on average are berthing and discharging at Hudaydah and Saleef, which is a 41% reduction from the pre-blockade average of 35 vessels, according to UN records.
Even if the aid supplies reach Yemen, there are armed checkpoints, many of them controlled by the rebel Houthis, which further delay distribution.
As per the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs’ Commodity tracker, food imports in October 2018 were meeting just 58% of the national requirement.
“Using a conservative estimate, the humanitarian aid agency discovered that approximately 84,701 children with SAM (Severe Acute Malnutrition) may have died between April 2015 and October 2018,” said a release issued by the group.
Children stand at a camp for internally displaced people in Dharawan, near the capital Sanaa, Yemen February 28, 2017. Credit: Reuters/Khaled Abdullah/Files
Save the Children have reached the estimate on children mortality based on data compiled by the UN.
Yemen country director of Save the Children, Tamer Kirolos said that these starvation deaths were entirely preventable.
“Children who die in this way suffer immensely as their vital organ functions slow down and eventually stop. Their immune systems are so weak they are more prone to infections with some too frail to even cry. Parents are having to witness their children wasting away, unable to do anything about it,” he said.
Also read: Understanding the Yemen Conflict
Due to the blockades and fighting, supplies are being brought in the southern port of Aden, instead of Hodeidah port, which is to the north of the country. This has increased delays in aid distribution by three weeks.
According to UN, the eastern road from Hodeidah to Sana’a is blocked, which impacts trade and convoys from ports to population centres in northern Yemen. Clashes have also blocked access to a milling facility and warehouses which have the ability to feed nearly four million people for a month.
Kirolos raised alarm bells over the coalition’s renewed military offensive into Hodeidah, which has 150,000 children still trapped in the city.
“Save the Children is calling for an immediate end to the fighting so no more lives are lost,” he said.
The current conflict in Yemen began in March 2015, when Saudi Arabia-led Gulf forces, backed by the US, UK and France, began air strikes against the rebel Shia Houthis with the aim to restore the regime of President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi. The Gulf states have accused Iran of supplying arms to the Houthi, which the latter has denied.