‘Death sentence’: UNICEF sounds alarm over Yemen child hunger

Shafaq News/ On Tuesday, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said that half of Yemen’s children under five are acutely malnourished, as the country reels from a decade-long conflict and deepening humanitarian crisis.

“One in every two children under the age of five is acutely malnourished,” said Peter Hawkins, UNICEF’s representative in Yemen, during a press briefing in Geneva. “The conflict has reached a tragic stage – it has stolen children’s futures and forced a whole generation to fight to survive.”

Hawkins revealed more than 537,000 children are suffering from severe acute malnutrition, a life-threatening condition, warning that 1.4 million pregnant and breastfeeding women in Yemen are also malnourished. “This is not just a health crisis – it is a death sentence for thousands,” he said. “The effects of this crisis will be felt for decades.”

UNICEF’s humanitarian appeal for Yemen in 2025 has so far received only 25% of its required funding, he added. “Without emergency resources, we will not be able to deliver essential services to meet the growing needs.”

Among those affected is Bothaina, a two-and-a-half-year-old girl from Abyan in southern Yemen. Diagnosed with severe acute malnutrition and stunting, she is significantly shorter and weaker than a healthy child her age. Her 10-month-old sister Bonah suffers from the same condition.

Stunting – when a child’s height-for-age falls more than two standard deviations below World Health Organization standards – is a result of chronic undernutrition, often linked to poverty, poor maternal health, and inadequate feeding in early life.

The first 1,000 days of a child’s life — from conception to their second birthday — are critical for physical growth and brain development. “For Bothaina, that crucial window was marked by scarcity,” said her 19-year-old mother, Mariam.

Mariam, who married at 16, lives in a cramped home shared with her in-laws. Her husband’s occasional income from motorcycle driving barely covers food. “We just try to keep them fed,” she said.

Now in its tenth year of war, Yemen has witnessed one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. Over 80% of the population requires humanitarian aid, and millions are on the brink of famine. A fragile truce since April 2022 has reduced large-scale fighting, but conditions remain dire across the country.