CAIRO: Famine is looming in four districts of Yemen after cases of hunger have surged rapidly among children in areas controlled by the internationally recognized government.
All 117 districts in government-controlled regions are likely to suffer from “serious” levels of severe malnutrition. According to a report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification or IPC, the four districts Mawza and Mocha in Taiz province, and Hays and Khawkhah in Hodeida province are expected to slip into famine between July and October this year.
The report shows the deteriorating food insecurity in the poorest nation that plunged into civil war in 2014, when Yemen’s Houthis took control of the capital, Sanaa, and much of the country’s north.
According to the United Nations about half of Yemen’s population or 18.2 million people are in dire need of humanitarian assistance this year.
The number of malnourished children has surged by 34 percent compared to last year, the report said. They include more than 18,500 children under five years who are estimated to be acutely malnourished by the end of this year, it said. Additionally, the report noted that about 223,000 pregnant and lactating women are likely to be malnourished in 2024.
“The report confirms an alarming trend of acute malnutrition for children in southern Yemen,” said the UNICEF representative to Yemen, Peter Hawkins.
The report attributed the sharp increase in malnutrition to the combined effects of measles and cholera outbreaks.
The IPC is a group of 15 UN agencies and humanitarian organizations working in Yemen and funded by the European Union, the US and the UK.
“These findings should be a wake-up call that lives are at stake,” said Pierre Honnorat, the World Food Program director in Yemen.
The report didn’t address hunger conditions in the Houthi-controlled area because of a lack of access. The militia have in recent months started a crackdown on United Nations agencies and aid groups, detaining dozens of workers.
A senior UN humanitarian official Lisa Doughten, addressing the UN Security Council earlier this month, said the Houthi measures aid operations in areas under their control negatively.
