The European Commission's Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection department (ECHO) will provide assistance over the next year to 70,000 severely malnourished children in Yemen under the age of five.
Chronic malnutrition has been a long standing challenge in Yemen due to a combination of under development, conflict and political instability. The rate of stunted growth among children is 50% with critical implications for a child's physical and cognitive development, a press release issued by UNICEF said.
By 2014 an estimated 1,060,000 children under five are expected to be acutely malnourished and approximately 280,000 severely acutely malnourished. These children are at high risk of death.
"To be able to reach all those at risk we call on other donors to join us in addressing this forgotten crisis and make a difference," said Herve Delphin, ECHO Head of Unit for European Neighborhood, Middle East, Central and South-Western Asia.
Over the last two years, ECHO has contributed to reach some 350,000 severely malnourished children with immediate and life-saving interventions and established over 1600 outpatient therapeutic feeding centers, from a mere 300 in 2011.