Child malnutrition in parts of Yemen is at least as bad as in the Horn of Africa, says the country's UNICEF representative
LONDON (AlertNet) - Child malnutrition in parts of Yemen is at least as bad as in the Horn of Africa and could be costing the country up to $1.5 billion a year,” the U.N. children’s agency UNICEF says.
If you don’t address malnutrition the entire future of Yemen is in jeopardy,” UNICEF’s Yemen representative Geert Cappelaere said. “I’m not exaggerating, I’m not dramatising. It’s a fact. And we need to recognise this as an international community.
Cappelaere also warned that dire water shortages could become a new trigger for fighting in Yemen, where 40 percent of people live on less than $2 a day.
Yemen’s new government is struggling to bring stability to the chaotic country following an uprising inspired by the Arab Spring which led to the departure of its long-term ruler Ali Abdullah Saleh in February.
The army has been fighting al Qaeda linked militants in the south and a rebel group has seized part of the north.
Cappelaere said the situation for ordinary Yemenis was “very dire” and urged the international community not to turn its back on the country.
Yemen has the highest level of chronic malnutrition after Afghanistan, affecting 60 percent of under fives. Almost one million children are acutely malnourished.
“The situation is dreadful,” he said. “The levels of acute malnutrition are as high, or higher than in the Horn of Africa or the Sahel.
“If you don’t do anything about these incredible high levels of malnutrition, in the short term you may have more and more children dying. In the long term, the cost of inaction for a country like Yemen may be up to $1.5 billion a year.”
The figure comes from a World Bank estimate that the cost of failing to address malnutrition could be 2-3 percent of a country’s GDP.
Malnutrition causes permanent mental and physical impairment, meaning children do not benefit as much as they should from education and fail to reach their potential in adulthood. This in turn has a direct knock-on effect for a country’s development.
WATER
Yemen’s economy is dependent on oil but revenues are dwindling, Cappelaere said. If the country is to move on it must diversify, but this will not be possible without an educated workforce.
“If you are serious about economic diversification … then you will have to invest in addressing malnutrition, you will have to invest massively in your education system. If you don’t do that not only is the survival of your children at stake the future of this country is at stake.”
Describing the problem of malnutrition in Yemen as “damned complex”, he said that in some areas it had almost nothing to do with access to food, but rather to lack of access to drinking water or sanitation.
“If children have constant diarrhoea … you can feed the children with whatever you want but they will never get properly nourished,” he told AlertNet during a trip to London.
He said bringing down malnutrition levels would require integrated investment in water, sanitation, nutrition, education and health.
Cappelaere, who is visiting several European capitals to press home the need for help, said the political settlement had brought a window of opportunity.
But he added: “We are still struggling to get Yemen on the international radar.
“There’s a huge opportunity, but the government of Yemen alone will not be able to do it so international assistance is going to be critical and is massively needed.”
In particular he highlighted the risk that water could become a new source of conflict.
Yemen’s capital Sanaa is predicted to become the first in the world to run out of water.
“If you have in rural areas more than 70 percent of your population struggling to get access to drinking water, what is going to happen if you don’t do something about that?” he said.
“There’s the risk, first of all, of illnesses and increased mortality of people. But also it could lead to conflict. Access to water may become the next reason why people are going to fight each other in Yemen.”
Cappelaere said short-term measures to boost access to water included rainwater harvesting and ensuring every family has a proper storage tank for drinking water and a basic knowledge of how to keep it safe.
But he also called on Yemen’s government to make a very clear statement that people must stop the uncontrolled drilling for water which has almost sucked the country dry.
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