JUDY WOODRUFF: Nearly seven years of war in
Yemen have produced the world's most dire

humanitarian catastrophe. Millions are starving,
not only without food to eat, but little in

the way of medical care for those most in
need.

Special correspondent Jane Ferguson has spent
years traveling in and out of the country.

This time, she traveled between the rebel-held
capital, Sanaa, and the last government stronghold,

Marib. She witnessed the worst conditions
yet.

And a warning: Some viewers may find images
in this report upsetting.

JANE FERGUSON: Barely conscious, Muraud Okab
(ph) silently fights to live beyond his 13

years. He had intestinal surgery in this Yemeni
hospital three months ago. His recovery has

been painful and worryingly slow.

The surgery left him unable to eat normal
food. His father, Muhammad Ali (ph), can rarely

find the specialized nutrition he needs. And
even if he could, he can't afford it.

So, he is showing me the bill for the surgery
for his son. It's about $3,000. They have

given a reduction down to make it more like
$2,500. He doesn't have the money.

Muhammad Ali was a carpenter before the war
started six years ago and hasn't had a day

of work since then.

"Every four days, I pay this one," he tells
us. "Every day for the treatment, I pay this

one."

This is just bill after bill after bill here.

The "NewsHour" first reported on Muraud's
condition back in March. Following up with

his father in person, it is clear he is not
improving.

When Muraud got sick he drove to Yemen's capital,
Sanaa, with him in his car, before selling

it to try pay for the surgery, the only thing
of any monetary value he owned gladly sold

to save the most priceless thing in his life.
But it wasn't enough. He's now deep in debt

and with other children waiting for him back
home.

Sabeen Hospital hosts Sanaa's largest children's
ward. It used to give free treatment to malnourished

and sick children, the final hope for poor
families. But in the last six months, funding

from aid agencies like UNICEF has slowed to
a trickle, and the hospital simply cannot

afford to operate for free anymore.

Nishwa Mahfout is a final year medical student,
working here without salary and fighting to

save a generation of babies. She watches parents
walk out of here with sick and dying children

every day.

When you see a child leave this ward, how
much faith do you have that they are going

to survive long term?

NISHWA MAHFOUT, Medical Student: A lot of
people, when they go, when they -- when we

treat them, they don't have the money enough,
or it's very expensive for them. They go and

they never return. And they go to die in their
homes, because they don't have expense of

the drugs or the hospital.

JANE FERGUSON: Do you see that? People run
out of money here and they have to leave?

NISHWA MAHFOUT: A lot, a lot. They are almost
90 percent.

JANE FERGUSON: Ninety percent?

NISHWA MAHFOUT: They don't have -- yes, a
lot of people, because it's a local hospital.

And the only people who get here is the poor,
not only the poor, the poorest people get

here, and they don't have the resources.

The only that they have -- even they don't
have enough food for that day. And we ask

them to buy drugs, costing them a month, a
month.

JANE FERGUSON: It costs them a monthly income?

NISHWA MAHFOUT: Yes, exactly.

JANE FERGUSON: And so when they leave, do
you ask them to stay? Like, do you -- how

do you react to people leaving when the baby
is not well yet?

NISHWA MAHFOUT: I become very sad and asking
for my -- by myself, asking, can I help them?

I say, how many can I help? If I help one,
I can't help all of them.'

JANE FERGUSON: As Yemen's brutal war and the
humanitarian catastrophe it wrought enters

its seventh year, international aid is not
close to keeping up with the vast needs here.

The global COVID crisis and economic austerity
from donor countries has reduced pledges.

Yet nowhere on Earth are so many people going
hungry. Tens of thousands are already living

with famine, the highest level of hunger in
the United Nations' official scale.

Never before in history have so many been
on the level just below, with the aid agencies

literally keeping five million of Yemen's
population of 30 million alive.

LAURENT BUKERA, World Food Program: In Yemen,
actually, two thirds -- I repeat -- two thirds

of the population is food-insecure somehow.

JANE FERGUSON: Laurent Bukera is Yemen country
director for the U.N.'s World Food Program.

LAURENT BUKERA: We have almost half of the
country, which is one step away from the highest

possible classification of hunger. And I think
that's unprecedented.

And, for us, what is the -- what is -- really
frighten us is, as you know in other contexts,

if one waits for famine to be declared, it's
actually too late. And doing that with half

of the population close, as close as can be
to the precipice is something we cannot do.

JANE FERGUSON: In Northern Yemen, Houthi rebels
are fighting the internationally recognized

Yemeni government, which is supported by Saudi
airpower.

The Houthis are allied with and supported
by Iran, Saudi Arabia's regional rival.

The Saudis impose a partial blockade around
rebel-held areas to try to deny the Houthis

vital income and weapons, but that has brought
the economy to its knees and starved civilians

as well. Most people in Yemen live in rebel-held
territory, where millions have been left destitute

and unable to afford food.

The Houthis also have attempted to tax, regulate
and control the aid coming in, worsening the

situation throughout 2020.

LAURENT BUKERA: So, for us, for the World
Food Program, from April 2020, we had to reduce

our intervention. And in the north, we are,
unfortunately, assisting on every other month.

So, basically, it's not every month that we
provide the assistance. We provide it every

alternate month.

JANE FERGUSON: Relations between the World
Food Program and the Houthis have improved

since. But other aid agencies say their work
is hampered by constant demands from the rebels

for security permits and endless paperwork.

The Houthi authorities in Sanaa also restricted
our movements, and we were carefully monitored

as we worked.

Civilians on both sides of this war bear the
cost of it. Across the front lines, in Marib

province, tens of thousands of people who
fled Houthi advances now live in camps on

the government side. This mobile clinic is
funded by the U.N. and serves pregnant and

breast-feeding women.

On a sparse diet, few manage to breast feed
at all, leaving babies stunted, unable to

walk, and stalked by death. Safia is 20 years
old and couldn't breast-feed her youngest

baby.

SAFIA AHMED, Yemen (through translator): I
got pregnant with this boy when this one was

6 months old. This boy is 1 year and 8 months
old now, and he cannot walk or stand.

JANE FERGUSON: The food offered is emergency
soy meal and sugar for the women.

They take it for six months, the first six
months of breast-feeding the baby.

The cutbacks in WFP handouts are biting. Each
family gets flour, cooking oil, sugar and

salt. If they have nothing else, they will
have to live on tea and bread. Life is made

up of long days spent waiting to go home.

Saleh Mohammed doesn't have much faith in
waiting any more. He built this small cinder

block house in place of a tent a month ago.
He's only three miles away from his home village,

but with fighting raging there, it may as
well be 1,000 miles. He, like many others

here, is watching what the United States can
and will do in the recent push for peace here.

SALEH MOHAMMED, Yemen (through translator):
We think the new president, Joe Biden, is

much better than the last one towards Yemen.
He wants to stop the war in Yemen, unlike

the last one.

We hope to be able to go back home, but thousands
of families have left their houses, and they

were destroyed because of war.

JANE FERGUSON: Even the idea of rebuilding
seems like a faraway dream in this place.

At dusk, the sun sets over the hills and is
replaced by a full moon. The children play

under its light, as their parents rest in
their tents, readying themselves for another

day to come, one more day of surviving this
war.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Jane Ferguson
in Sanaa, Yemen.