The World Food Program (WFP) announced the suspension of the acute malnutrition prevention program starting last January due to lack of funding, leaving more than three million children and women at risk of malnutrition complications.

The program said in a recent report that it completely suspended the program to prevent acute malnutrition (severe and moderate) in Yemen last January, due to a lack of funding, as it received only 5% of the total requirements amounting to $1.27 billion. For the next six months (March - August) 2024.

The report added that stopping this program would leave 3.3 million children and pregnant and breastfeeding women at risk of disease and death resulting from complications related to malnutrition, including 2.4 million children and 900,000 women and girls.

The World Food Organization explained that last January, it was only able to help only 36% of the total targets to obtain treatment for acute malnutrition, due to lack of funding, as it helped 68.7 thousand children and 170.4 women and girls out of 671.3 thousand targets.

The UN program warned that the continued cessation of this important program, especially for children, will make them vulnerable to “the risks of chronic malnutrition, represented by stunted growth, cognitive weakness, a weak immune system, and delayed social and emotional development.”

Survivors will also face long-term consequences including delayed growth and decreased cognitive function and productivity in adulthood.