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The United Nations reproductive health agency, affiliated with the United Nations Population Fund, said Wednesday that the risk of famine increases the suffering of nearly a million pregnant women in Yemen.
The famine in Yemen threatens millions of people, exacerbated by the war and the Corona pandemic, according to Natalia Kanem, executive director of the United Nations Population Fund.
In a press release, it indicated that around 10 million people at risk of starvation in Yemen are women and girls, and they constitute about half of Yemenis in need of humanitarian aid.
Kanem expressed concern for the safety and health of women and girls in Yemen, where more than one million pregnant women are exposed to the “risk of acute malnutrition,” warning that this number will worsen if steps are not taken to stop this issue.
Kanem visited a hospital in the city of Aden, where he found that hospitals were not spared from losses caused by the war, as a woman dies every two hours from pregnancy complications.
He explained that the war and the Corona pandemic made births dangerous for pregnant women due to severe malnutrition, and some of them died on the road before reaching hospitals due to lack of transportation and the long distances they had to travel.
Kanem indicated that 20 percent of health facilities provide family health services.
Many hospital maternity departments have become a place of sadness rather than joy, as pregnant women die in childbirth or postpartum weakness and fatigue, not to mention the condition of newborns.
Kanem called on world leaders to work to stop this suffering and save lives, especially as Yemeni women are still seeking a better tomorrow and the world must act to save the lives of innocent civilians.
The statement from the United Nations Agency for Reproductive Health indicates that one in 5 people in Yemen suffers from mental health disorders due to the war in the country for years, according to 2017 estimates.
Yemen is one of the 20 hotspots identified by the World Food Program and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
And UN agencies are warning of an exacerbation of the famine in Yemen, where the number of people facing famine or near-famine is expected to triple, from 16,000 people in December to more than 47,000 in June.
Food insecurity will soon affect 16.2 million people in total, of which five million will be in an emergency situation.
On humanitarian efforts, two sources familiar with the matter said the Saudi-led coalition allowed four fuel ships to dock in the Yemeni port of Hodeidah overlooking the Red Sea, after the Houthi group said it would not agree. with the proposed ceasefire unless the air and maritime blockade was lifted.
On Monday, Saudi Arabia offered the Houthis a plan for a nationwide ceasefire and the reopening of airlines and shipping lines.
The initiative announced by the Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, includes the reopening of the Sanaa airport and allow the import of fuel and food through the port of Hodeidah, both under the control of the Houthis. allied with Iran.
The Saudi initiative received an international welcome from superpower countries and the United Nations, but only the Houthis, and later the Iranians, were the ones who rejected Riyadh’s offer and set various conditions for its approval.
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