1st July, 2015
Millions of children are being exposed to the threat of preventable diseases due to the ongoing conflict in Yemen, according to UNICEF.
The UN child-focused agency said an estimated 2.6 million children aged under 15 have been put at risk of contracting measles while the number of children exposed to acute respiratory infections is likely to reach 1.3 million.
Meanwhile, more than 2.5 million children are at risk of diarrhea due to the unavailability of safe water, poor sanitary conditions and lack of access to salt compared to 1.5 million prior to the conflict.
UNICEF also estimated that more than half a million children under five are at risk of developing severe and acute malnutrition over the next 12 months if the situation continues to deteriorate – a figure more than triple the 160,000 at risk before the crisis.
Dr Peter Salama, UNICEF’s regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, said children are not being vaccinated "because health centres do not have electricity or the fuel they need to keep vaccines cold and distribute them, or because parents are too frightened by the fighting to take their children to receive vaccinations".
“The tragic result is that children are going to die of diseases like measles and pneumonia that would normally be preventable," he said.
UNICEF said that at least 279 children have been killed and 402 injured as a direct result of the conflict which escalated in late March.
A Saudi-led alliance has been carrying out air raids in the country for almost three months after rebel Houthi fighters drove President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi into exile. The Iranian-backed rebels have since seized vast swathes of the country.
– DAVID ADAMS
