WEBVTT 00:00.140 --> 00:04.430 position:10% line:50% size:80% JUDY WOODRUFF: Nearly seven years of war in Yemen have produced the world's most dire 00:04.430 --> 00:11.360 position:10% line:50% size:80% humanitarian catastrophe. Millions are starving, not only without food to eat, but little in 00:11.360 --> 00:14.440 position:10% line:50% size:80% the way of medical care for those most in need. 00:14.440 --> 00:19.990 position:10% line:50% size:80% Special correspondent Jane Ferguson has spent years traveling in and out of the country. 00:19.990 --> 00:25.949 position:10% line:50% size:80% This time, she traveled between the rebel-held capital, Sanaa, and the last government stronghold, 00:25.949 --> 00:29.319 position:10% line:50% size:80% Marib. She witnessed the worst conditions yet. 00:29.319 --> 00:33.690 position:10% line:50% size:80% And a warning: Some viewers may find images in this report upsetting. 00:33.690 --> 00:40.480 position:10% line:50% size:80% JANE FERGUSON: Barely conscious, Muraud Okab (ph) silently fights to live beyond his 13 00:40.480 --> 00:46.320 position:10% line:50% size:80% years. He had intestinal surgery in this Yemeni hospital three months ago. His recovery has 00:46.320 --> 00:48.800 position:10% line:50% size:80% been painful and worryingly slow. 00:48.800 --> 00:54.059 position:10% line:50% size:80% The surgery left him unable to eat normal food. His father, Muhammad Ali (ph), can rarely 00:54.059 --> 00:59.039 position:10% line:50% size:80% find the specialized nutrition he needs. And even if he could, he can't afford it. 00:59.039 --> 01:08.091 position:10% line:50% size:80% So, he is showing me the bill for the surgery for his son. It's about $3,000. They have 01:08.091 --> 01:20.990 position:10% line:50% size:80% given a reduction down to make it more like $2,500. He doesn't have the money. 01:20.990 --> 01:25.560 position:10% line:50% size:80% Muhammad Ali was a carpenter before the war started six years ago and hasn't had a day 01:25.560 --> 01:26.890 position:10% line:50% size:80% of work since then. 01:26.890 --> 01:32.310 position:10% line:50% size:80% "Every four days, I pay this one," he tells us. "Every day for the treatment, I pay this 01:32.310 --> 01:33.310 position:10% line:50% size:80% one." 01:33.310 --> 01:36.610 position:10% line:50% size:80% This is just bill after bill after bill here. 01:36.610 --> 01:41.509 position:10% line:50% size:80% The "NewsHour" first reported on Muraud's condition back in March. Following up with 01:41.509 --> 01:45.640 position:10% line:50% size:80% his father in person, it is clear he is not improving. 01:45.640 --> 01:51.110 position:10% line:50% size:80% When Muraud got sick he drove to Yemen's capital, Sanaa, with him in his car, before selling 01:51.110 --> 01:57.410 position:10% line:50% size:80% it to try pay for the surgery, the only thing of any monetary value he owned gladly sold 01:57.410 --> 02:02.960 position:10% line:50% size:80% to save the most priceless thing in his life. But it wasn't enough. He's now deep in debt 02:02.960 --> 02:05.799 position:10% line:50% size:80% and with other children waiting for him back home. 02:05.799 --> 02:11.510 position:10% line:50% size:80% Sabeen Hospital hosts Sanaa's largest children's ward. It used to give free treatment to malnourished 02:11.510 --> 02:17.180 position:10% line:50% size:80% and sick children, the final hope for poor families. But in the last six months, funding 02:17.180 --> 02:21.959 position:10% line:50% size:80% from aid agencies like UNICEF has slowed to a trickle, and the hospital simply cannot 02:21.959 --> 02:24.710 position:10% line:50% size:80% afford to operate for free anymore. 02:24.710 --> 02:29.370 position:10% line:50% size:80% Nishwa Mahfout is a final year medical student, working here without salary and fighting to 02:29.370 --> 02:35.409 position:10% line:50% size:80% save a generation of babies. She watches parents walk out of here with sick and dying children 02:35.409 --> 02:36.569 position:10% line:50% size:80% every day. 02:36.569 --> 02:41.120 position:10% line:50% size:80% When you see a child leave this ward, how much faith do you have that they are going 02:41.120 --> 02:42.500 position:10% line:50% size:80% to survive long term? 02:42.500 --> 02:44.310 position:10% line:50% size:80% NISHWA MAHFOUT, Medical Student: A lot of people, when they go, when they -- when we 02:44.310 --> 02:51.550 position:10% line:50% size:80% treat them, they don't have the money enough, or it's very expensive for them. They go and 02:51.550 --> 02:56.452 position:10% line:50% size:80% they never return. And they go to die in their homes, because they don't have expense of 02:56.452 --> 02:59.489 position:10% line:50% size:80% the drugs or the hospital. 02:59.489 --> 03:05.060 position:10% line:50% size:80% JANE FERGUSON: Do you see that? People run out of money here and they have to leave? 03:05.060 --> 03:07.470 position:10% line:50% size:80% NISHWA MAHFOUT: A lot, a lot. They are almost 90 percent. 03:07.470 --> 03:08.480 position:10% line:50% size:80% JANE FERGUSON: Ninety percent? 03:08.480 --> 03:14.480 position:10% line:50% size:80% NISHWA MAHFOUT: They don't have -- yes, a lot of people, because it's a local hospital. 03:14.480 --> 03:22.930 position:10% line:50% size:80% And the only people who get here is the poor, not only the poor, the poorest people get 03:22.930 --> 03:25.080 position:10% line:50% size:80% here, and they don't have the resources. 03:25.080 --> 03:31.030 position:10% line:50% size:80% The only that they have -- even they don't have enough food for that day. And we ask 03:31.030 --> 03:35.370 position:10% line:50% size:80% them to buy drugs, costing them a month, a month. 03:35.370 --> 03:37.690 position:10% line:50% size:80% JANE FERGUSON: It costs them a monthly income? 03:37.690 --> 03:38.690 position:10% line:50% size:80% NISHWA MAHFOUT: Yes, exactly. 03:38.690 --> 03:44.659 position:10% line:50% size:80% JANE FERGUSON: And so when they leave, do you ask them to stay? Like, do you -- how 03:44.659 --> 03:48.250 position:10% line:50% size:80% do you react to people leaving when the baby is not well yet? 03:48.250 --> 03:55.069 position:10% line:50% size:80% NISHWA MAHFOUT: I become very sad and asking for my -- by myself, asking, can I help them? 03:55.069 --> 03:59.520 position:10% line:50% size:80% I say, how many can I help? If I help one, I can't help all of them.' 03:59.520 --> 04:04.439 position:10% line:50% size:80% JANE FERGUSON: As Yemen's brutal war and the humanitarian catastrophe it wrought enters 04:04.439 --> 04:10.409 position:10% line:50% size:80% its seventh year, international aid is not close to keeping up with the vast needs here. 04:10.409 --> 04:15.849 position:10% line:50% size:80% The global COVID crisis and economic austerity from donor countries has reduced pledges. 04:15.849 --> 04:22.130 position:10% line:50% size:80% Yet nowhere on Earth are so many people going hungry. Tens of thousands are already living 04:22.130 --> 04:26.920 position:10% line:50% size:80% with famine, the highest level of hunger in the United Nations' official scale. 04:26.920 --> 04:32.340 position:10% line:50% size:80% Never before in history have so many been on the level just below, with the aid agencies 04:32.340 --> 04:36.540 position:10% line:50% size:80% literally keeping five million of Yemen's population of 30 million alive. 04:36.540 --> 04:41.480 position:10% line:50% size:80% LAURENT BUKERA, World Food Program: In Yemen, actually, two thirds -- I repeat -- two thirds 04:41.480 --> 04:43.360 position:10% line:50% size:80% of the population is food-insecure somehow. 04:43.360 --> 04:48.300 position:10% line:50% size:80% JANE FERGUSON: Laurent Bukera is Yemen country director for the U.N.'s World Food Program. 04:48.300 --> 04:54.750 position:10% line:50% size:80% LAURENT BUKERA: We have almost half of the country, which is one step away from the highest 04:54.750 --> 04:59.180 position:10% line:50% size:80% possible classification of hunger. And I think that's unprecedented. 04:59.180 --> 05:08.340 position:10% line:50% size:80% And, for us, what is the -- what is -- really frighten us is, as you know in other contexts, 05:08.340 --> 05:14.130 position:10% line:50% size:80% if one waits for famine to be declared, it's actually too late. And doing that with half 05:14.130 --> 05:22.510 position:10% line:50% size:80% of the population close, as close as can be to the precipice is something we cannot do. 05:22.510 --> 05:27.080 position:10% line:50% size:80% JANE FERGUSON: In Northern Yemen, Houthi rebels are fighting the internationally recognized 05:27.080 --> 05:32.010 position:10% line:50% size:80% Yemeni government, which is supported by Saudi airpower. 05:32.010 --> 05:37.600 position:10% line:50% size:80% The Houthis are allied with and supported by Iran, Saudi Arabia's regional rival. 05:37.600 --> 05:42.960 position:10% line:50% size:80% The Saudis impose a partial blockade around rebel-held areas to try to deny the Houthis 05:42.960 --> 05:48.060 position:10% line:50% size:80% vital income and weapons, but that has brought the economy to its knees and starved civilians 05:48.060 --> 05:54.680 position:10% line:50% size:80% as well. Most people in Yemen live in rebel-held territory, where millions have been left destitute 05:54.680 --> 05:56.950 position:10% line:50% size:80% and unable to afford food. 05:56.950 --> 06:02.280 position:10% line:50% size:80% The Houthis also have attempted to tax, regulate and control the aid coming in, worsening the 06:02.280 --> 06:03.940 position:10% line:50% size:80% situation throughout 2020. 06:03.940 --> 06:10.860 position:10% line:50% size:80% LAURENT BUKERA: So, for us, for the World Food Program, from April 2020, we had to reduce 06:10.860 --> 06:17.930 position:10% line:50% size:80% our intervention. And in the north, we are, unfortunately, assisting on every other month. 06:17.930 --> 06:21.940 position:10% line:50% size:80% So, basically, it's not every month that we provide the assistance. We provide it every 06:21.940 --> 06:23.020 position:10% line:50% size:80% alternate month. 06:23.020 --> 06:27.210 position:10% line:50% size:80% JANE FERGUSON: Relations between the World Food Program and the Houthis have improved 06:27.210 --> 06:32.820 position:10% line:50% size:80% since. But other aid agencies say their work is hampered by constant demands from the rebels 06:32.820 --> 06:35.770 position:10% line:50% size:80% for security permits and endless paperwork. 06:35.770 --> 06:40.530 position:10% line:50% size:80% The Houthi authorities in Sanaa also restricted our movements, and we were carefully monitored 06:40.530 --> 06:42.740 position:10% line:50% size:80% as we worked. 06:42.740 --> 06:48.260 position:10% line:50% size:80% Civilians on both sides of this war bear the cost of it. Across the front lines, in Marib 06:48.260 --> 06:53.690 position:10% line:50% size:80% province, tens of thousands of people who fled Houthi advances now live in camps on 06:53.690 --> 06:58.890 position:10% line:50% size:80% the government side. This mobile clinic is funded by the U.N. and serves pregnant and 06:58.890 --> 06:59.950 position:10% line:50% size:80% breast-feeding women. 06:59.950 --> 07:05.380 position:10% line:50% size:80% On a sparse diet, few manage to breast feed at all, leaving babies stunted, unable to 07:05.380 --> 07:11.650 position:10% line:50% size:80% walk, and stalked by death. Safia is 20 years old and couldn't breast-feed her youngest 07:11.650 --> 07:12.650 position:10% line:50% size:80% baby. 07:12.650 --> 07:15.690 position:10% line:50% size:80% SAFIA AHMED, Yemen (through translator): I got pregnant with this boy when this one was 07:15.690 --> 07:21.250 position:10% line:50% size:80% 6 months old. This boy is 1 year and 8 months old now, and he cannot walk or stand. 07:21.250 --> 07:30.050 position:10% line:50% size:80% JANE FERGUSON: The food offered is emergency soy meal and sugar for the women. 07:30.050 --> 07:31.341 position:10% line:50% size:80% They take it for six months, the first six months of breast-feeding the baby. 07:31.341 --> 07:35.880 position:10% line:50% size:80% The cutbacks in WFP handouts are biting. Each family gets flour, cooking oil, sugar and 07:35.880 --> 07:41.690 position:10% line:50% size:80% salt. If they have nothing else, they will have to live on tea and bread. Life is made 07:41.690 --> 07:45.370 position:10% line:50% size:80% up of long days spent waiting to go home. 07:45.370 --> 07:50.220 position:10% line:50% size:80% Saleh Mohammed doesn't have much faith in waiting any more. He built this small cinder 07:50.220 --> 07:55.960 position:10% line:50% size:80% block house in place of a tent a month ago. He's only three miles away from his home village, 07:55.960 --> 08:02.280 position:10% line:50% size:80% but with fighting raging there, it may as well be 1,000 miles. He, like many others 08:02.280 --> 08:07.820 position:10% line:50% size:80% here, is watching what the United States can and will do in the recent push for peace here. 08:07.820 --> 08:12.500 position:10% line:50% size:80% SALEH MOHAMMED, Yemen (through translator): We think the new president, Joe Biden, is 08:12.500 --> 08:16.400 position:10% line:50% size:80% much better than the last one towards Yemen. He wants to stop the war in Yemen, unlike 08:16.400 --> 08:17.400 position:10% line:50% size:80% the last one. 08:17.400 --> 08:21.680 position:10% line:50% size:80% We hope to be able to go back home, but thousands of families have left their houses, and they 08:21.680 --> 08:23.860 position:10% line:50% size:80% were destroyed because of war. 08:23.860 --> 08:29.520 position:10% line:50% size:80% JANE FERGUSON: Even the idea of rebuilding seems like a faraway dream in this place. 08:29.520 --> 08:35.250 position:10% line:50% size:80% At dusk, the sun sets over the hills and is replaced by a full moon. The children play 08:35.250 --> 08:40.200 position:10% line:50% size:80% under its light, as their parents rest in their tents, readying themselves for another 08:40.200 --> 08:45.910 position:10% line:50% size:80% day to come, one more day of surviving this war. 08:45.910 --> 08:50.220 position:10% line:50% size:80% For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Jane Ferguson in Sanaa, Yemen.