UNICEF: Children of Yemen are threatened with death

Warned the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) that more than half a million children in Yemen are at risk of death or suffering from complications of malnutrition, which is not allocated adequate resources to reduce the impact of conflict, poverty and drought on them.
She said UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, Maria Calivis - at the end of the first official visit to Yemen - Malnutrition is able to prevent it, but the failure to address it is unacceptable.
She said this after the responsible international visit to Yemen took two days, during which he briefed on the impact of malnutrition on the health of children there.
She said - in remarks reported by the UN News Centre - conflicts, poverty and drought, in addition to the strife in the country since last year, and rising food and fuel prices and the collapse of social services, are all factors that threaten children's health and survival.
UNICEF pointed out that Yemen is the second country in the world after Afghanistan, where the high rate of chronic malnutrition among children, since the rate of growth faltering in which to 58%, and nearly 30% of children in some areas of acute malnutrition.
 International Organization and felt that this ratio is equivalent to southern Somalia is witnessing now.
UNICEF considered that malnutrition - in addition to the deterioration of health services - is the main reason behind most of the deaths of about 74 children between 2500 of children with measles following an outbreak of this disease in recent times, according to official figures.
She said that Yemen suffers from having one of the highest rates of mortality among children under five in the Middle East and North Africa, which up to 77 deaths per 1000 live births, and this means that 69 thousand children die each year before their fifth birthday.
Maria Calivis and called for a renewed commitment to achieving a better and safer for the children of Yemen, pointing out that Yemen is ready to start a new phase calls for the situation of children in the forefront of the political agenda for the country to ensure their needs and keeping their rights.
And called on UNICEF to provide $ 50 million to meet urgent humanitarian needs of children in Yemen in 2012.

Source: Agencies