Hunger Ward Credit: courtesy of PIFF

Hunger Ward

Hunger Ward courtesy of PIFF

I’ll be straight up: Hunger Ward was an extremely difficult watch. That’s what makes it all the more essential viewing.

Hunger Ward examines the effects that Yemen’s ongoing civil war is having on its most vulnerable population: children. The short but nevertheless impactful documentary provides an inside look into two pediatric feeding centers through the eyes of two female healthcare workers.

In 2018, the U.N. warned that 13 million people are facing starvation, and went on to state that it could be “the worst famine in 100 years.” The situation has only worsened since then. “Day after day, famine is increasing,” laments Dr. Aida Hussein Alsadeeq. The doctor is featured prominently in the documentary; she works at Sadaqa Hospital in the city of Aden, where more than half of the most severe cases of child starvation in South Yemen are treated.

Janey Wong is the content lead at our sibling site, EverOut, and the Mercury's former food editor. She's usually eating, thinking about what she ate, or planning what to eat next. She dislikes drinking...