U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said that international donors have pledged $1.1 billion in aid for Yemen. Rather than a humanitarian action, this pledge only underscores the responsibility that big powers have had in the crisis that has all but devastated that country. Some of the countries that have pledged support have actively contributed to the ravaging of Yemen.
According to UNICEF, at least one child in Yemen dies every 10 minutes because of malnutrition, diarrhea or respiratory-tract infections as the war rages on. Some 462,000 children suffer from severe malnutrition and nearly 2.2 million are in need of urgent care.
"The state of health in children in the Middle East's poorest country has never been as catastrophic as it is today," Meritxell Relano, UNICEF's acting representative, said in December. Doctors Without Borders, one of several medical charities operating in the country, has called the situation "extremely challenging." According to that organization, hospitals have been repeatedly hit by shelling, airstrikes and gunfire.
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