UNICEF: 66,000 Yemen children die annually from preventable diseases

YemenExtra

SH.A.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said yesterday that as many as 66,000 Yemeni children under the age of five die every year from preventable diseases.

UNICEF resident representative in Yemen, Meritxell Relano, said on Twitter that half of these children die during childbirth or in the first month of life, while others die from preventable diseases such as diarrhea, pneumonia and malnutrition

She added that children in Yemen continue to be killed in several provinces, stressing on the need to end the war.

According to UN officials, more than 16,000 people have been killed in the war, while more than 11 per cent of the country’s population has been displaced.

In addition every year in #Yemen 66,000 children under 5 years of age are dying of preventable diseases. Half of them during birth or in the first month of life and the others of diseases that are preventable such as diarrhea, pneumonia and malnutrition related causes.

— Meritxell Relano (@RelanoMeritxell) August 15, 2018