DHAKA: Saida Ahmad Baghili’s piercing eyes look up from a Yemen hospital bed as if pleading for help.

She is 18, but the children’s clothes that drape her emaciated body appear too large for her in photos released this week, reports CNN.

Baghili is being treated for severe malnutrition at al-Thawra hospital in the Red Sea port city of Hodeida.

As the food crisis grows worse for Baghili and other Yemenis, the UN World Food Programme fears the devastating toll that hunger could have on the war-torn country.

The organization said it has provided food for more than 3 million people each month since February but is beginning to struggle.

It has split these rations so it can reach 6 million people every month, but resources are beginning to run out.

“An entire generation could be crippled by hunger,” Torben Due, the program’s director in Yemen, said in a statement.

It also stated that “We need to scale up our life-saving assistance to reach more people with timely food assistance and preventive treatment.”

“We appeal to the international community to support the people of Yemen.”

“We need to provide a full ration to every family in need, but sadly we have had to reduce the size of the food basket and split assistance between impoverished families to meet growing need.”

The war in Yemen began in early 2015 when Houthi rebels a minority Shia group from the north of the country drove out the US-backed government and took over the capital, Sanaa.

The country has become a proxy battleground between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

A Saudi led coalition, made up of several Arab countries, began a military campaign in March 2015 aimed at restoring the Yemeni government and preventing the Houthis and forces loyal to deposed President Ali Abdullah Saleh from taking power.

The ongoing conflict has left thousands dead as the Saudi led coalition continues its attacks on Houthi rebels, who are backed by Iran.

The fighting has led the World Food Program struggling to cope with the demand.

BDST: 1412 HRS, OCT 28, 2016
NJ/BD