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 Now, after weeks of specialist hospital care in the capital Sanaa,
though she can still barely speak and sometimes finds eating more
difficult than ever, she can at least smile.
Nearly two years of war between a Saudi-led Arab coalition and the
Iran-allied Houthi movement has deepened the plight of Baghili's
family and millions of other Yemenis.
In her parched village on the Red Sea coast, impoverished residents
have long struggled to put food on the table.
Doctors believe her condition - which began several years before the
war began - has damaged her throat and, when her family first
brought her to a regional hospital in October, she could barely keep
her eyes open or stand.
"We admitted Saida to find out the cause of her inability to eat and
it's clear that she suffers from severe malnutrition," Doctor Wasfi
al-Zakari of Sanaa's al-Thawra hospital said.
"Her health remains chronic, and her bones remain fragile due to
stunted growth. In all likelihood, they will never return to
normal," he said.
Her father Ahmed, who is staying nearby to be with his daughter,
says her weight has reached 16 kg (35 pounds), five kilos more than
when she was first admitted to hospital.
"But she doesn't eat anything except liquid medical food. She used
to drink juice and milk with bananas but now she can't ... we don't
know when she'll recover."
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Even before the onset of the conflict in March 2015, Yemen was
suffering a humanitarian crisis including widespread hunger which
was brought on by decades of poverty and internal strife.
About half of Yemen's 28 million people are "food insecure",
according to the United Nations, and 7 million of them do not know
where they will get their next meal.
(Writing by Noah Browning; Editing by Louise Ireland)
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