Page 10 - aruba-today-20180915

A10 WORLD NEWS
Saturday 15 September 2018
Yemenis in an isolated district eat leaves to survive

By MAGGIE MICHAEL and UNICEF and their Ye-
CAIRO (AP) — Many fami- meni partners are required
lies with starving children to use lists of needy provid-
in an isolated pocket of ed by local officials.
northern Yemen have no Critics accuse those offi-
food except the boiled cials of favoritism. That es-
leaves of local wild vine, a pecially works against the
sign of how some are falling local population in Aslam,
through the cracks of inter- where many belong to the
national relief efforts try- "Muhammasheen," Ara-
ing to prevent widespread bic for the "Marginalized,"
death from famine around a community of darker-
the country. skinned Yemenis shunned
The main health center in by the rest of society and
Aslam district was crowded left to work as garbage
with emaciated children collectors, menial laborers
during a recent visit by the or beggars. The Marginal-
Associated Press. Excruci- ized have no weight with
atingly thin toddlers, eyes officials to ensure aid goes
bulging, sat in a plastic their way.
washtub used in a make- One humanitarian coordi-
shift scale as staff weighed nator in Hajjah said local
each one. Their papery skin Houthi authorities distribute
was stretched tight over aid unfairly.
pencil-like limbs and knob- "The powerful hinder the
by knees. work of the humanitarian
At least 20 children are agencies and deprive of
known to have died of star- aid those people who are
vation already this year in in most need," he said. He
the province that includes spoke on condition of ano-
the district. The real number nymity for fear of problems
is likely far higher, since few with the authorities.
families report their chil- Some residents said local
dren's deaths when they officials demand bribes
die at home, officials say. to get on food lists — the
"We are in the 21st century, equivalent of around 15
but this is what the war did U.S. cents, but still too much
to us," said the health cen- for many.
ter's chief, Mekkiya Mahdi. In this Aug. 25, 2018 image made from video, a severely malnourished girl waits for her turn to be Food deliveries come irreg-
Yemen is more than three treated at the Aslam Health Center in Hajjah, Yemen. ularly or are too small or are
years into a civil war that Associated Press missing items, residents and
has wrecked the country's aid workers said.
already fragile ability to Humanitarian officials warn its mobile teams in the dis- ince's highest jumps in the People in Aslam have be-
feed itself. The war pits Shi- that in the face of unend- trict from three to four and number of reported chil- come increasingly reliant
ite rebels known as Houthis, ing war, hunger's spread is providing transportation to dren suffering from severe on leaves from the local
who hold the north, against outstripping efforts to keep health facilities. acute malnutrition: From Arabian Wax Leaf vine,
a Saudi-led coalition, people alive. In first six months of this year, 384 cases in January, an known in Yemeni Arabic as
armed and backed by the When AP approached Hajjah province, where additional 1,319 came in "halas."
United States. The coalition U.N. agencies with ques- Aslam is located, record- over the next six months. In the village of al-Mashra-
has sought to bomb the tions about the situation ed 17,000 cases of severe That comes to around 15 da, a 7-month-old girl, Zah-
rebels into submission with in Aslam, they expressed acute malnutrition, higher percent of the district's chil- ra, cried and reached with
an air campaign in support alarm and surprise. In re- than in any full year, said dren. her bony arms for her moth-
of Yemeni government sponse to the AP's ques- Walid al-Shamshan, head There appeared to be mul- er to feed her. Undernour-
forces. tions, international and lo- of the Health Ministry's nutri- tiple reasons why aid was ished herself, her mother is
Around 2.9 million women cal aid groups launched an tion section in the province. not reaching some of the often unable to breastfeed
and children are acutely investigation into why food "It's a steady deterioration starving, beyond the rapid her. She can't afford for-
malnourished; another wasn't getting to the some and it's scary," al-Shamshan increase in those in need. mula. Zahra was recently
400,000 children are fight- families, a top relief official said. Even after treatment, The lion's share of assis- treated at the health cen-
ing for their lives only a step said. The official spoke on children often deteriorate tance goes to displaced ter but is dwindling away
away from starvation. condition of anonymity be- once again when they go people, with 20 percent again. Her parents can't af-
At least 8.4 million of Ye- cause of the sensitivity of home to villages with no going to the local com- ford to hire a car or motor-
men's 29 million people issues involved in operating food and contaminated munity, said Azma Ali, a bike to take her back to the
would starve if they didn't in the war-ravaged coun- water. worker with the World Food clinic. If they don't, Zahra
receive international aid, try. Aslam is one of Yemen's Program. Agencies' criteria will die, said Mahdi.
a number that grew by a As an immediate response, poorest districts, located give priority for help to the Zahra's mother said only
quarter the past year, ac- the official said, relief in the Houthi heartland. displaced and households "the big heads" — the bet-
cording to U.N. figures. It is agencies are sending over Its population of 75,000 to without a breadwinner, ter-off and well-connected
likely to jump by another 3.5 10,000 food baskets to the 106,000 includes both local though local residents also — end up with international
million because the curren- district, and UNICEF Resi- residents and growing num- struggle to find food. aid.
cy's tumbling value leaves dent Representative Dr. bers of people displaced Under heavy pressure from "We only have God. We
more people unable to af- Meritxell Relano said the by fighting elsewhere. Houthi authorities, interna- are poor and we have
ford food, the U.N. said. organization is increasing It saw one of Hajjah prov- tional agencies like WFP nothing."q