A Yemeni child dies every 75 seconds in "the greatest famine in modern history"
English - Sunday 14 March 2021 الساعة 02:35 pm
NewsYemen, translation:
A Yemeni child dies every 75 seconds with the exacerbation of the Yemen crisis, which is witnessing "the largest famine in modern history," according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
The British newspaper "The Telegraph" quoted David Beasley, Executive Director of the World Food Program, who described the situation in Yemen, after a visit this week, as "hell on earth."
In front of the UN Security Council, Thursday, Beasley said, "I was in Yemen just two days ago, where more than 16 million people are facing a crisis of hunger or worse."
He added that the data he provides are not just numbers, but rather relate to people heading directly towards the largest famine in modern history.
He warned that 400,000 Yemeni children could die this year, that is, nearly one child every 75 seconds if no urgent intervention takes place.
"As we sit here, a child dies every minute and a quarter," he added. "Will we turn our backs on them and look in the opposite direction?"
The newspaper pointed out that the UN official’s statements come at a time when Britain has significantly reduced its aid to Yemen, which has been devastated by years of civil war.
And the British Foreign Office announced the reduction of its aid to Yemen to 87 million pounds, or nearly 122 million dollars, this year, after the amount was 164 million pounds, or 228 million dollars in 2019/2020.
The World Food Program says that nearly a third of families in Yemen suffer from malnutrition and rarely consume foods such as pulses, vegetables, fruits, dairy products or meat.
Beasley said that he witnessed a deadly silence in the children's hospital wards, where he witnessed during his last visit the deteriorating health status of children to the point that they were unable to laugh or cry.
