UN warns that 100,000 children are at risk of dying from famine in Yemen as the country spirals into another food crisis.

Almost 100’000 children under the age of five are at risk of dying in the Middle Eastern country of Yemen, the UN warns. An analysis by the UN found that malnutrition in southern Yemen has risen 10 per cent overall in 2020, but 15% in under-fives, due to a combination of the coronavirus pandemic, economic problems and a spike in conflict.

A senior UN official warned that there is a ‘risk of losing an entire generation of Yemen’s young children’ to hunger and malnutrition. In August the UN was forced to close a third of its projects in Yemen due to lack of funding, with Oxfam also reporting a serious lack of much needed money to save the country’s children.

“Yemen is on the brink of a catastrophic food security crisis. If the war doesn’t end now, we are nearing an irreversible situation and risk losing an entire generation of Yemen’s young children,” said Lise Grande, the UN’s humanitarian coordinator for the country.