Nutrition

Based on the Humanitarian Response Plan Yemen 2024, about 7.7 million children under-five and pregnant and lactating women (PLWs) are in need of humanitarian nutrition support. An estimated 2.4 million children are wasted and are in need of timely, quality treatment for acute malnutrition. Similarly, 2.1 million children under five are stunted and at risk of losing their future due diminished educational performance and reduced productivity in adulthood. 620,000 children under five are in need of quality lifesaving treatment for severe wasting including 62,000 children with severe acute malnutrition with medical complications.

WHO, as the United Nations lead agency for health and a key partner in nutrition, supports local authorities in Yemen to incorporate targeted life-saving response and preventive measures for the sickest children into health system service delivery. This work aims to ensure that hospitals across the country can provide safe critical medical and nutrition care in therapeutic feeding centres (TFCs) to reduce under-five mortality.

To reach the children most in need, WHO has established about 340 nutrition surveillance sites in those districts affected by food insecurity (Phase 3 and above on the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification for Acute Food Insecurity) and diseases. The trained health team based at each nutrition surveillance site screens children aged under 5 years for their nutritional condition and for referral to appropriate life-saving programmes.

From January to Dec 2024, WHO Yemen reached 31,220 children through its supported TFCs in 259 districts across 22 governorates. .

Support in TFCs is not limited to life-saving services. It also extends to preventive measures, through the provision of extensive infant and young child feeding counselling for caregivers, which seeks to:

protect and promote breastfeeding and appropriate complementary feeding.

prevent relapses, and similar episodes in other children within the family; and

promote health and nutrition care-seeking behaviour among caregivers for the healthy growth of children aged under 5 years.

WHO ensures the provision of medical and non-medical supplies to all TFCs and covers their running costs. It also covers the referral cost for caregivers, to avoid or reduce their out-of-pocket expenses and improve caregiver compliance with treatment.

From January to Dec , performance indicators in WHO-supported TFCs in Yemen were as below:

Number of children admitted to a TFC: 31,220

Proportion of children admitted aged under 6 months: 15% (4,795 children)

Proportion of admitted children stabilized and referred to an outpatient therapeutic programme: 97% (28,712 children)

Death rate: 1% (266 children)

Number of caregivers benefiting from infant and young child feeding counselling sessions in TFCs: 31,220

Relapse Rate : 2% (636children)

TFCs link with referral paediatric wards for the most serious cases of Moderate acute malnutrition (MAM) with comorbidities. From January to Dec 2024, 16,523 children with acute and moderate malnutrition were admitted to a paediatric ward.

Nutrition surveillance

To ensure that children in remote areas were also assessed, additional screening of 55,447 children was conducted via mobile teams. Children found to have malnutrition are referred to the nearest nutrition services to continue treatment and follow-up.

From January to Dec 2024, 988,020 children aged under 5 years were screened for malnutrition at 340 nutrition surveillance sentinel sites in 205 districts across 21 governorates. .

Under the nutrition surveillance system, nutritional assessment is usually performed through consideration of the child’s age and the measurement of the child’s weight, height/length, mid-upper arm circumference, haemoglobin level, breastfeeding status, and oedema.

It is a facility-based surveillance system, established mainly in district hospitals across the country and through trained health workers. The system provides the proportion of children aged under 5 years with any form of malnutrition out of the total children screened. The results only reflect the status of children who have attended a health facility or screening site during the month under review. The system tracks 4 out of 6 global core nutrition indicators: wasting, stunting, exclusive breastfeeding and anaemia.

A monthly bulletin is shared with all stakeholders at the national, regional and global levels for information and to support decision-making.

In the month of Dec :

• 90,690 children aged under 5 years were screened (21% aged under 6 months);
• 24% of children were wasted and referred to an appropriate nutrition programme: Hodeidah had the highest proportion of acute malnutrition among children screened (44%);
• 47% of children were underweight;
• chronic malnutrition (stunting) remains of high concern, affecting 44% of screened children and reflected in high proportions of stunting among children in 184 districts;
• anaemia was confirmed in 19% of children aged 6–59 months screened for anaemia; and
• exclusive breastfeeding among infants aged under 6 months showed a very low average rate (13%), which lags far behind the WHO global target for 2025 (at least 50%) and suggests causal linkages between suboptimal breastfeeding practices and high levels of acute and chronic malnutrition.