85,000 Children May Have Died of Hunger in Yemen
(SANAA, Yemen) An international aid group says an estimated 85,000 children under age 5 may have died of hunger and disease since the outbreak of Yemen’s civil war in 2015.
Save the Children said Wednesday the conservative estimate is based on average mortality rates for Severe Acute Malnutrition, which the U.N. says has afflicted more than 1.3 million children since a Saudi-led coalition went to war with Yemen’s Houthi rebels in March 2015.
Tamer Kirolos, Save the Children’s Yemen director says, For every child killed by bombs and bullets, dozens are starving to death and it’s entirely preventable,” adding that “children who die in this way suffer immensely.”
Through new analysis of United Nations data, the leading international charity found that between April 2015 and October 2018, about 84,701 children under 5 died from untreated cases of severe acute malnutrition or in simple terms, hunger.
The war and a Saudi-led blockade have created the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, with more than 8 million people at risk of starvation, according to the United Nations.
