UNICEF: Child Malnutrition at ‘All Time High’ in Yemen

December14|Yamanyoon

Hunger among Yemen’s children has reached an “all time high”, with nearly 2.2 million in need of urgent care, the U.N. children’s agency UNICEF said on Monday.
At least 462,000 children suffer from severe acute malnutrition – meaning they are extremely underweight for their height – a drastic increase of almost 200 percent since 2014, UNICEF said.
Sa’ada governorate in the country’s northwest has the world’s highest stunting rates among children, affecting eight out of 10 in some areas, the U.N. agency said.
Stunting – where a child is short for their age – is another sign of chronic malnourishment and has irreversible consequences for both physical health and cognitive function.
Other governorates – Hodeida, Taizz, Hajjah and Lahej – are also badly affected after 20 months of war.
“Malnutrition in Yemen is at an all-time high and increasing,” Meritxell Relano, UNICEF acting representative in Yemen, said in a statement.
“The state of health of children in the Middle East’s poorest country has never been as catastrophic as it is today,” the unicf said .