'A Death Sentence' for Kids Under 5 in Yemen

85K may have died since 2015: Save the Children
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 21, 2018 10:25 AM CST
'A Death Sentence' for Kids Under 5 in Yemen
A severely malnourished boy rests on a hospital bed at the Aslam Health Center in Hajjah, Yemen, on Oct. 1.   (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed, File)

If Democrats were spurred to action after the deaths of 40 children in Yemen, killed when an airstrike hit their bus, you should now expect an uproar. "This situation is proving a death sentence," a rep for Save the Children says of Yemen's civil war, which has prompted severe acute malnutrition in more than 1.3 million children since fighting erupted between Houthi rebels and a Saudi-led coalition in 2015. Of those, some 85,000 under the age of 5 may have died as of October, according to a new report.

The deaths coming on "the brink of famine ... are entirely the result of a manmade conflict that is fueled by countries who have the power to stop it," Save the Children rep Bhanu Bhatnagar says, per the Guardian, which describes the estimate based on UN data as "conservative." Noting long delays in food and other aid deliveries amid new fighting around the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah, Save the Children is calling for an immediate ceasefire. (Mike Pompeo has done the same.)

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