UNICEF: 11 million children in Yemen desperately need food, medicine

SANAA, July 3 (YPA) – The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Tuesday today that the conflict raging in Yemen has pushed the country into the abyss.

This came in a statement obtained by Yemen Press Agency (YPA).

“Social services are barely functional. The economy is in ruins. Prices have soared. Hospitals have been damaged. Schools have turned into shelters or have been taken over by armed groups,” Henrietta H. Fore, UNICEF Executive Director said in a statement at Geneva press briefing following the 4-day visit to Yemen.

“I have just come from Aden and Sanaa and I saw what three years of intense war after decades of underdevelopment and chronic global,” She added.

Today, 11 million children in Yemen – more than the entire population of Switzerland – need help getting food, treatment, education, water, and sanitation,” she said.

She added that “since 2015, more than half of health facilities have stopped working, and 1,500 schools have been damaged due to airstrikes and shelling. At least 2,200 children have been killed and 3,400 injured.

She said that “we are committed to doing all we can to help the children and young people of Yemen but there should be a political solution to the conflict. We all need to give peace a chance. It is the only way forward.”

E.M