Malnutrition is 'crisis inside the crisis' in Yemen: NGO

Aden, Yemen, April 20 (IANS) Malnutrition has been exacerbating an already dire humanitarian situation in war-torn Yemen, a non-governmental organization (NGO) warned.

"Malnutrition is a crisis inside the crisis. It has actually extremely amplified the situation and the vulnerability of the population in Yemen," Illaria Rasulo, head of mission of Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in Yemen, said in a video posted on social media platform X.

"2024 was a very tough year, with the additional outbreak of acute watery diarrhea in whole Yemen," and extremely high levels of malnutrition recorded in MSF facilities, apart from measles outbreaks and sporadic cases of polio and diphtheria, Rasulo said.

"For 2025, we are expecting even more outbreaks," she predicted, noting a "dramatic" humanitarian situation in Yemen as many NGOs have to reduce their activities in or even leave the country amid fund cuts from major donors, including a funding freeze from the United States.

On January 20, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid, which orders a 90-day pause in the country's "foreign development assistance."

Tensions between the Houthi group and the Trump administration have intensified since Washington resumed airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen on March 15, after the group announced plans to resume attacks on Israeli targets, citing Israel's blockade of humanitarian aid to Gaza as the reason.

In the deadliest raid since the renewed US airstrikes, the US army launched a series of attacks on Thursday night targeting and destroying the Houthi-controlled Ras Isa fuel port and concrete tanks storing imported fuel. According to an update from Houthi-run health authorities early Saturday, at least 80 people were killed and 150 others wounded.

Earlier on Saturday, the US army launched 29 fresh airstrikes on Houthi targets in northern Yemen, while Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, head of the Houthi Revolutionary Committee, vowed to retaliate.

The US airstrikes have sparked condemnation from Iran and various human rights organisations.

--IANS

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