Existing comment:
2019 Feature
Famine in Yemen
Lorenzo Tugnoli
The Washington Post
Dec. 31, 2018, Yemen
Lorenzno Tugnoli for the Washington Post
Four years of civil war have pushed Yemen to the brink.
Fighting between Houthi rebels and the Saudi Arabia-backed government has left 70,000 people dead, 3 million displaced and 2 million children on the verge of starvation.
In a hospital in Aden, photographer Lorenzo Tugnoli met 3-year-old Ayesha Ahmed, clutching a snack bar. The malnourished girl weighed 9 pounds -- the size of a newborn. Her family escaped intense fighting in her village to seek treatment for her.
But a local militia took over the hospital, selling off medical supplies for profit. Doctors went on strike. Nurses braved harassment by the militiamen to care for Ayesha and other patients. Eventually, the militia was removed.
Tugnoli doesn't know what happened to Ayesha but plans to return to Yemen. He hopes his photos provoke questions. "The question here is how is it possible that something like this happens, and how is it possible that there is so little interest in a conflict like this?" |