The world is preoccupied with the political situation in Yemen, but a far more serious issue, though largely overlooked, is the humanitarian crisis. In this context, the Catholic news agency AsiaNews published a report repeatedly using the term “humanitarian catastrophe.” Among the alarming figures cited by UNICEF is a 40% drop in traditional childhood immunizations, leading to outbreaks of polio and measles, as well as the collapse of the public health system. There is also the food crisis, as warned by the World Food Programme, with hundreds of thousands of citizens suffering from food insecurity. Yemen ranks second only to Afghanistan in the rate of chronic malnutrition, affecting more than half of children under five. A study conducted last month in Abyan Governorate, which is witnessing fighting between government forces and Islamist militants, revealed that acute malnutrition has reached 18.6%, far exceeding the rate of famine.
