Aid Groups Condemn Yemen Blockade, Warn of ‘Catastrophic’ Famine

Fatima Shooie sits between her 85-year-old mother and 22-year-old daughter who are both receiving treatment for cholera at a crowded hospital in Sana’a. Credit: WHO/S. HasanBy Tharanga YakupitiyageUNITED NATIONS, Nov 10 2017 (IPS)If aid deliveries are not resumed, Yemen will experience the worst famine the world has seen in recent decades.Earlier this week, Saudi Arabia closed all land, air, and sea ports in Yemen after Houthi rebels fired a missile at Riyadh.Though the Saudi-led coalition reopened the southern port Aden, humanitarian officials have warned of a famine and health crisis if other entry points remain shut.“It will not be like the famine that we saw in South Sudan earlier in the year where tens of thousands of people were affected, and it will not be like the famine that cost 250,000 people their lives in Somalia in 2011—it will be the largest famine the world has seen for many decades with millions of victims,” said Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock."If access shuts off entirely, even for a single week, then disaster will be the result. This is the nightmare scenario, and children will likely die." --Yemen Tamer Kirolos of Save the ChildrenYemen has long depended on imports, importing up to 90 percent of essential goods.A previous aerial and naval blockade, instituted days after the war began in 2015, has already left 20 million people in need of humanitarian assistance.This includes seven mill...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: Aid Armed Conflicts Featured Food & Agriculture Headlines Health Human Rights Humanitarian Emergencies IPS UN: Inside the Glasshouse Middle East & North Africa Famine OCHA Saudi Arabia Yemen Source Type: news