Yemen Conflict: 3 Years on: 27 million people struggle to survive as humanitarian crisis worsens

World
Europe

02:56

It's been more than three years since the conflict in Yemen escalated. In that time, the country has experienced some of the worst war can offer. Our correspondent Natalie Carney gives us a glimpse of what is now considered the world's gravest humanitarian crisis.

Today, Aden is a shell of its former self. An international port that once bustled with activity, now quiet. Hotels once flocked to by foreigners, destroyed. Schools once filled with laughing children, closed. According to the United Nations, more than 28,000 people have been killed or wounded during the nearly four years of war, which has internally displaced 3 million citizens.

AICHA DISPLACED PERSON "We were in the middle of the bombing. We were in the middle of it. We had to leave our house and run away. We took our kids and escaped, crawling on the floor."

Thousands more have died from malnutrition, disease and poor health.

DR. AIDA ALSADEEQ PEDIATRIC MEDICAL CONSULTANT "The cases that were admitted into the centre, their condition is much worse than it was. What we have found recently is that the cases are very very severally mal-nutrition."

Yemen is also facing the largest documented cholera epidemic in modern times.

HASSAN CHOLERA PATIENT "The cause of cholera is the pollution that is in the country. That includes the water, everything, even food, even the wheat, it's all contaminated."

The country's economy has flattened. Its currency the riyal is plummeting while prices are rising.

NATALIE CARNEY ADEN "The insecurity across the country and occasional blockades of ports and roads has caused trade to all but stop and pushed prices sky-high. Everyday commodities such as bread are now out of reach for an already impoverished country."

ADEL FOUAD BAKER "The flour prices used to be 700 riyals but now they are at 12,000. All food prices have jumped and life has become much harder. So we have fewer clients, but thank God for what we have."

Many schools have closed as parents can no longer afford school supplies or clothing. Many gas stations sit empty as imports have been drastically reduced. All this has forced millions to rely on aid to survive.

MOHAMMED ALI MOHAMMED HEAD, WORLD FOOD PROGRAM IN ADEN "The food security situation in Yemen is basically is the worst ever in any kind of emergency operation that has ever happened. We are talking about almost 18 million people that require full assistance."

A second attempt at UN-brokered peace talks earlier this month failed, leaving no end in sight for the war in Yemen and 27 million people struggling to survive. Natalie Carney, CGTN, Aden, Yemen.