CAIRO (AP) — Millions of children could be pushed to the brink of starvation as the coronavirus pandemic sweeps across war-torn Yemen amid a “huge” drop in humanitarian aid funding, the U.N. children’s agency warned Friday. “As Yemen’s devastated health system and infrastructure struggle to cope with coronavirus, the already dire situation for children is likely to deteriorate considerably,” warned UNICEF. “If we do not receive urgent funding, children will be pushed to the brink of starvation and many will die,” said Sara Beysolow Nyanti, UNICEF’s representative to Yemen. International relief agencies are alarmed by the significant decline in humanitarian funding promised earlier by donor countries. Around 9.6 million children do not have sufficient access to safe water, sanitation, or hygiene and two-thirds of the country’s roughly 30 million people rely on food assistance.

Source: Huffington Post June 26, 2020 07:18 UTC