[News] Over 80 Yemeni Newborns Die Every Day Due To Saudi-led War

[Anti-Imperialist News]

 Over 80 Yemeni Newborns Die Every Day Due To Saudi-led War
November 24, 2022-
https://orinocotribune.com/over-80-yemeni-newborns-die-every-day-due-to-saudi-led-war-ministry/
[image: A premature baby lies in an incubator at the child care unit of a
hospital in Sana'a, Yemen, January 16, 2018. File photo by Reuters.]

A premature baby lies in an incubator at the child care unit of a hospital
in Sana'a, Yemen, January 16, 2018. File photo by Reuters.

*An official with Yemen’s Health Ministry says more than 80 newborn babies
lose their lives on a daily basis because the war-torn country does not
have the required medical equipment due to the Saudi-led war and blockade.*

Najeeb Al-Qubati, the undersecretary of Yemen’s Ministry of Public Health
and Population for the Population Sector, made the remarks on Thursday
while addressing a local event.

Some 39 percent of babies are premature, which shows a significant increase
compared to the period before the start of the war, he said.

The official said the use of prohibited weapons was one of the reasons
behind the growing trend. He said several human rights organizations have
already acknowledged and condemned Saudis for using such arms.

Yemeni medical centers are in need of some 2,000 incubators, he said,
noting that 632 incubators have been provided so far.

Since launching the war with the support of Washington in March 2015, the
Saudi-led coalition has used internationally-banned weapons, including
US-made cluster bombs, to target residential areas, according to the
Cluster Munition Monitor.

Apart from the war, Saudi Arabia has imposed a blockade on Yemen which,
combined, have claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. The
military aggression has destroyed much of the country’s infrastructure,
including the health sector.


*Mosquito-borne diseases on the rise *On Wednesday, the Yemeni Health
Ministry said mosquito-borne diseases such as Malaria and dengue have been
on the rise since the start of the war.

Speaking at a press conference in Hodeida, Muhammad Al-Mansour, the
undersecretary of Yemen’s Ministry of Public Health and Population for the
Primary Care Sector, said war and blockade were two main reasons behind the
increase of epidemics and diseases in the country.

Failure to implement to malaria control program led to a rise in cases from
513,000 in 2015 to 1,100,000 in 2019, he said, noting the rate was higher
in areas where citizens were displaced such as in Hodeida.

Malaria and dengue fever claimed the lives of more than 260,000 Yemenis
between 2015 and 2019, he said, naming the closure of ports which has led
to delays in the arrival of equipment and medicine as one of the leading
factors.

In September, Yemen’s al-Masirah television network reported the Ministry
of Public Health and Population had confirmed the Saudi-led blockade had
raised acute malnutrition cases to more than 632,000 children under the age
of five and 1.5 million pregnant and lactating women. “The siege and
intense bombardment with prohibited weapons caused a high rate of
congenital abnormalities and miscarriages, with an average of 350,000
miscarriages and 12,000 malformations,” it said. According to the ministry,
the siege led to an eight-percent increase in premature births compared to
the situation before the war.

The blockade has also increased the number of cancer patients by 50
percent. The figure showed 46,204 cases registered during the year 2021.

The ministry said the Saudi-led war had destroyed 162 health facilities
completely or 375 partially and put them out of work.

The objective of the war was to reinstall the Riyadh-friendly regime of Abd
Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and crush the popular Ansarullah resistance movement,
which has been running state affairs in the absence of a functional
government in Yemen. Not only has the Saudi-led coalition failed to meet
its objectives, it has also killed hundreds of thousands of Yemenis and
created what the UN calls the world’s “worst humanitarian crisis.”
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