The newborn twins Raghad and Raad are fighting for their lives after their family was forced to flee their home on foot because of clashes between pro-government forces and Houthi fighters. Like many families caught up in the fighting, they arrived at a place of relative safety with little more than the clothes they were wearing.
Displacement has disrupted access to basic services for infants and mothers. Forced movements break continuity of care, complicate efforts to maintain safe feeding practices and make it harder for parents to obtain medicines, clean water and nutrition needed for newborn survival. Health facilities in areas affected by the conflict often face severe strains, limiting the care available to vulnerable children.
The renewed violence has deepened an already severe hunger crisis in Yemen, where insecurity and instability have left many households without reliable sources of food. For infants and young children, the combination of displacement, food shortages and restricted access to healthcare greatly increases the risk of malnutrition and life-threatening illness.
Humanitarian assistance struggles to keep pace with needs in areas where fighting makes access dangerous or unpredictable. Displaced families frequently depend on temporary shelters and aid deliveries that can be delayed or interrupted by insecurity, making long-term recovery and adequate infant care difficult to achieve.
The situation of Raghad and Raad illustrates the human cost of the conflict beyond the battlefield: newborn lives imperilled by a breakdown in the systems that normally support health and nutrition. Until violence subsides and safe, sustained access for humanitarian services is restored, many families in Yemen will continue to face acute risks to their children's survival.