An MSF doctor examines a child during a mobile clinic for displaced people in Khudaish camp, Abs, Yemen (September 2020). © Tareq Farhan/MSF
MSF doctor Naseer Abdulkarim checks a child suffering respiratory problems during a mobile clinic in Al Matayn, near Abs. © Pau Miranda/MSF
MSF has worked in Abs district for over five years. Providing more consistent and lasting nutritional support programs and improving access to water in both displacement camps and host communities would reduce the number of severely malnourished children arriving at the hospital. Instead, the number of patients we treat often exceeds the capacity of the ward.
Malnutrition exposes children to a host of secondary diseases, which can be fatal if left untreated. Diarrhea, measles, and respiratory infections sound like normal childhood illnesses for many children around the world – but for children already weakened and lacking essential nutrients, and in the absence of timely access to health care, they can have life-threatening consequences. Many of the malnutrition-related health complications that we treat could be avoided with the provision of basic services at the primary health care level.
We know, from the thousands of patients that we treat in Abs hospital every year, that Hamdi’s story is unfortunately a common one. The children whom we treat are used to hearing their parents worry endlessly about the economic situation: fathers disappear for days looking for work, for fuel, or for food. Mothers do all they can to feed their families – and yet, despite all of these efforts, children are going hungry. While this reality regularly appears in the headlines, we see little change on the ground.
The world is busy with many other priorities, but it is hard to believe that governments and humanitarian actors in the twenty-first century cannot do more for children in Abs.
Yemenis are being pushed to the absolute limits of their resilience. The war has killed around 233,000 people since 2015, according to the United Nations humanitarian agency. It has displaced millions, often multiple times. It has destroyed infrastructure, and the health system in particular. Yemeni civilians cannot continue like this. Parties to the conflict and the humanitarian community of donors and organizations must ensure that families can access food and essential services, and that humanitarian assistance reaches those in acute need. The children who we treat at Abs hospital, who manage against all odds to overcome severe malnutrition, heart disease, pneumonia, and other serious illnesses, must not be failed by those who have the power to help.
