With the ongoing Saudi-Led coalition fighting Houthi rebel in Yemen the British Charity Save the Children fears 5 million children are at the risk of famine in Yemen.
On Tuesday, according to state media in the United Arab Emirates, a partner in the coalition, a campaign is launched to recapture the rebels Houthi-held port of Hodeidah.
Any damage or even a temporary closure of the port will soar up the food and fuel cost. This will in return but 1 million more children at the risk of famine.
Save the Children CEO Helle Thorning Schmidt has stated that food crisis has serious implications. Millions of children are starving there already. They don’t even know when their next meal is coming or not.
In the hospitals, the babies are too weak to even cry because their bodies are too exhausted by hunger.
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Thorning-Schmidt said, whatever happens in Hodeidah will directly affect the children and their families all across Yemen. It is a vital port, even the smallest disruption to it means death for hundreds and thousands of already malnourished children. They will not be able to get any food, fuel and aid supplies.
80% of the Yemen population rely on this port for goods and aids. Even the smallest disruption will hike up the prices of fuel which will in turn directly affect transportation cost to such an extent that the families won’t be able to afford even to take their sick children to the hospital.
The price of food has already doubled as the Yemeni Riyal has already collapsed. Even if the food is available in the market, Yemeni families are not able to afford it.
Hike in the fuels like gasoline and cooking gas has also increased by 25%, further adding to their difficulties.
Last month the World Health Organization has already given warning of a third cholera epidemic. Yemen has already faced two major waves of the cholera epidemic. Since April 2017, more than 1.1 million cholera cases have been recorded by WHO, with more than 2,300 associated deaths.
