UNICEF: Vaccines cargo must not be a one-off

Associated Press

AMMAN, JORDAN

The U.N. child agency said Sunday that it has flown 1.9 million doses of vaccines to war-torn Yemen, its first aid delivery since a Saudi-led coalition fighting Shiite rebels tightened a sea and air blockade earlier this month.

Regional UNICEF director Geert Cappelaere described Saturday’s shipment as a “very small step” at a time of immense need and warned that it must not be a one-off.

The coalition had promised to reopen Yemen’s main airport in the capital of Sanaa and the Red Sea port of Hodeida to humanitarian traffic by last week.

However, two UNICEF vessels carrying food, water purification tables and medicines heading to Hodeida have not yet received clearance to dock, Cappelaere said.

More than 11 million children in Yemen are in dire need of aid, and it is estimated that every 10 minutes a child in Yemen dies of a preventable disease, he said.

New alarms were raised by an outbreak of diphtheria, with suspected cases already reported in five governorates, said Cappelaere. Cholera and acute watery diarrhea spread rapidly in recent months, including among children, with close to 1 million suspected cases reported.

“The war in Yemen is sadly a war on children,” he said. “Yemen is facing the worst humanitarian crisis I have ever seen in my life.”

Yemenis have endured an intensified 21/2-year war.