“A combination of violence, insecurity, deep poverty and record-high food prices is exacerbating malnutrition and driving millions to the fringes of survival,” according to the UN.
As violence aggravates existing crises, 15% of Burkina Faso's population is currently faced with food insecurity, and 1 in 10 children suffer from malnutrition, says the Red Cross.
While the deaths from malnutrition — recorded between June last year and April 1 — are close to 2,000, the number is likely higher as most hunger deaths go unrecorded.
The conflict has severely disrupted food imports to the region, the UN children's agency said, adding if the situation persists it could impact children in Egypt, Lebanon, Libya, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
“More and more children are going to bed hungry in Yemen,” says Catherine Russell, UNICEF's executive director.
At least 18 million Afghans are in need of assistance and the United Nations' plan is to provide help for at least 15.7 million of them, says Ramiz Alakbarov, UN humanitarian chief in Afghanistan.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) says 26.6 percent of children screened at remote clinics in recent weeks throughout Ethiopia’s northwest region of Tigray were malnourished.
A recent Save the Children report says over 2,300 children were killed from 2018 to 2020 in the war between Iran-backed rebels and Saudi-led coalition supporting the government in Yemen.
More than 88 million people were suffering from “acute hunger” at the end of 2020 due to conflict and instability, a 20 percent increase in one year, says UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres at UNSC meeting.
UN agencies say 2.3 million small children in war-torn Yemen are estimated to starve this year.
UNICEF expects that 10.4 million children will suffer from acute malnutrition in 2021 due to prolonged conflicts, internal displacement and the coronavirus pandemic.
The United Nations is the main provider of reproductive health services in Yemen, where a long-running conflict has left 80 percent of people reliant on aid, but it has been forced to cut back its operations due to a funding shortfall.
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