Hajjah, 1 March 2022 – Seven years of conflict in Yemen have taken a heavy toll on the population with serious humanitarian consequences. About 2.3 million children under-five-years-old in Yemen were estimated in 2021 to have acute malnutrition with 400,000 severe cases including 40,000 with medical complications. These children are fighting every day for their lives and need immediate, specialized lifesaving care to survive.

A child with severe acute malnutrition is 9 times more likely to die than a well-nourished child. That’s why WHO’s work to sustain lifesaving care at more than 109 therapeutic feeding centers across Yemen, is so important.

Hajjah is one of the governorates with the highest prevalence of acute malnutrition. WHO through the Emergency Health and Nutrition Project (EHNP) and its successor the Emergency Human Capital Project (EHCP), both funded by the World Bank, are making critical nutrition services available to the most vulnerable communities. Eight therapeutic feeding centres are supported in Hajjah, with needed rehabilitations, furnishing, equipment, supplies and therapeutic milk.

A caregiver next to her malnourished baby at the therapeutic feeding centre in AL-Humjori Hospital, Hajjah City.

These investments mean that care is provided 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to make sure children get the treatment needed to save their lives. Of the children admitted to these facilities, more than 90% survive. In 2021, 2507 children were cured of severe malnutrition.