SANAA, Dec. 16 (Xinhua) -- Hafidhah Jamal, a 22-month-old Yemeni girl, has been plagued by severe malnutrition for more than a year. She barely escaped death after her family, despite every difficulty, managed to transfer her to the hospital in the capital Sanaa for better treatment.
"After Jamal's skin turned darker brown and started peeling off, we rushed her to a hospital in our district. Doctors told us she was in critical condition and needed to be quickly transferred to specialized hospitals in Sanaa," the girl's grandfather Mohammad Al-Sufi told Xinhua.
Upon Jamal's arrival at Al-Sabeen Maternity and Child Hospital, a major public hospital for treating malnutrition in Sanaa, she was admitted to the intensive care unit due to her urgent condition, said Ameen Al-Ayzari, a doctor at the hospital.
"The girl was only skin and bones, 5.15 kg in weight, and had developed apparent symptoms of acute malnutrition that required urgent treatment so that she could keep breathing and stay alive," Al-Ayzari recalled.
The doctor noted that the hospital treats dozens of malnourished patients per day, mostly from remote areas like Jamal, who lives in Hajjah Governorate, 127 km northwest of Sanaa.
Though its rooms, even corridors, have been crowded with malnourished and stunted children, the hospital has usually been quiet as these children, albeit suffering, are too weak to cry.
What's worse, many impoverished families, particularly those from remote villages, cannot afford the cost of treatment in Sanaa and are often forced to leave before their children recover, Hael Al-Jarbani, supervisor of the malnutrition department at the hospital, told Xinhua.
That's exactly the predicament facing Jamal's family. Unable to pay the high medical expenses, they had no choice but to leave the hospital before Jamal fully recovered, the girl's grandfather lamented.
Meanwhile, the hospital itself has been facing immense challenges, including limited medical supplies, high operating expenses, and salary delays, which undermine its medical services for malnourished children.
According to the World Health Organization, 46 percent of health facilities in Yemen are partially functioning or completely out of service as a result of the protracted civil war.
The civil war, which began in late 2014 between the Houthi group and the Yemeni government, has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and pushed millions to the brink of famine, according to UN estimates.
A Yemen situation report updated by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs on Friday said that an estimated 62 percent of surveyed households countrywide reported inadequate food consumption in October. It added nearly 17.1 million Yemenis will likely experience acute food insecurity during 2025, citing projections by the Food Security and Agriculture Cluster.
The deepening food insecurity has driven up the malnutrition rate in Yemen, which is now among the world's highest.
However, as Yemen's conflict enters its second decade, the path to peace remains elusive, with domestic and regional dynamics continuing to play a crucial role in shaping the country's future. ■