Iran Press/America: Four United Nations (UN) agencies have warned that nearly 2.3 million children under the age of five are projected to suffer from acute malnutrition this year in war-torn Yemen.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the World Food Program (WFP), and the World Health Organization (WHO) offered the assessment in a joint statement on Friday, adding that of the overall figure, about 400,000 children were expected to suffer from severe acute malnutrition and could die if they did not receive urgent treatment.
The UN agencies said that the figures showed an increase in acute malnutrition and in severe acute malnutrition of 16 percent and 22 percent, respectively, compared to 2020.
They further warned that about 1.2 million pregnant or breastfeeding women were also expected to suffer from extreme malnutrition in 2021.
UNICEF executive director Henrietta Fore also said immediate action should be taken to stop the worsening humanitarian crisis in Yemen.
"More children will die with every day that passes without action. Humanitarian organizations need urgent predictable resources and unhindered access to communities on the ground to be able to save lives," she said.
Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies, with logistical and intelligence support from the US and several Western countries, launched a brutal war on Yemen in March 2015 in an attempt to restore a Riyadh-friendly regime that had been toppled in a popular uprising.
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