85,000 Children Have Starved to Death in Yemen, Says Aid Group

As many as 85,000 children under age 5 may have died of hunger and disease since the outbreak of Yemen’s civil war in 2015, according to a top international aid group. Save the Children based its figures on mortality rates for untreated cases of severe acute malnutrition in young children, which the United Nations believes more than 1.3 million children have suffered from since the beginning of the war. The group described the figure of 84,701 children as a “conservative estimate,” assuming 20 to 30 percent of untreated cases had lead to death, as previous studies have shown. “For every child killed by bombs and bullets, dozens are starving to death and it’s entirely preventable,” said Tamer Kirolos, Save the Children’s Yemen director. “Children who die in this way suffer immensely as their vital organ functions slow down and eventually stop.”