A malnourished child lies in a bed as he receives medical treatment at the malnutrition ward in Al-Sabeen hospital in Sanaa, Yemen, Feb.26, 2020.(Xinhua/Mohammed Mohammed)
15 years old and 14 kg. After five years of deadly war, Yemen children are struggling to survive the starvation.
SANAA, Feb. 28 (Xinhua) -- Emaciated child Mohammed Hassan threw a frightened look towards the door after a doctor entered to examine his skinny body in a hospital bed in the rebel-held Sanaa, where five years of war has pushed millions in Yemen to the doorstep of famine.
Mohammed, aged fifteen and weighs only 14kg, lives with his family in a tent in a remote village east of the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah, near a frontline where fighting between the Iran-backed Houthi rebels and the Saudi-backed government forces has impeded the entry of humanitarian aid for months.
"Mohammad was admitted to Al-Sabeen hospital from As-Sukhnah district in eastern Hodeidah. He suffers acute malnutrition for long time because of the dire circumstances in the embattled areas," doctor Mousa Debis told Xinhua.
Mohammed Hassan lies in a bed as he receives medical treatment at the malnutrition ward in Al-Sabeen hospital in Sanaa, Yemen, Feb.25, 2020.(Xinhua/Mohammed Mohammed)
Mohammed said a good man gave his father money that helped transferred him to the hospital.
"My father works as a woodcutter and had no enough money to take me to the hospital for treatment until a good man helped us," he said.
The father, Hassan, blames the war for the worsening condition of his extremely malnourished son, complaining that he is unable to secure daily basic food needed for his nine-member family.
"My children and I are hungry… our daily meal is dry bread and sometimes we do not get it. The war and blockade have devastated our life. We live now in a tenet with very little food," he lamented.
A malnourished child lies in a bed as he receives medical treatment at the malnutrition ward in Al-Sabeen hospital in Sanaa, Yemen, Feb.26, 2020. (Xinhua/Mohammed Mohammed)
Hassan's family was one of thousands of Yemeni families which become unable to secure one meal a day or rent a house as food prices are rising and value of the country's currency is falling because of the civil war.
The United Nations says about 80 percent of the Yemeni population are in need of life-saving support.
"About 7.4 million people need nutrition assistance, including 2.1 million children under the age of five, and 1.1 million pregnant and breastfeeding women who need acute malnutrition treatment," Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said in a statement in January.
A mother carries her malnourished child as he receives medical treatment at the malnutrition ward in in Al-Sabeen hospital in Sanaa, Yemen, Feb.25, 2020. (Xinhua/Mohammed Mohammed)
The war began in late 2014 when the Houthi rebels seized control of much of the country's north and forced the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to flee abroad. The Saudi-led military coalition intervened in March 2015 to support Hadi's government.
The war has killed tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians, displaced over 3 million, cut public sector wages and pushed the country to the brink of famine.
"I am very sick. I hope that I will be recovered and be able to return to the school," Mohammed said in a quiet voice. ■