Yemen on Famine Alert

(UNOCHA) – Since the conflict escalated in Yemen in 2015, the humanitarian suffering endured by men, women and children has increased at an alarming rate. Some 18.8 million people now need humanitarian assistance or protection to survive and 7 million people do not know where their next meal will come from. This food crisis is man-made: attacks from the ground, air and sea have displaced millions of people, interrupted food pipelines, disrupted food production and caused food prices to rise. Responding to the crisis is ridden with difficulty: conflict and bureaucratic constraints make it hard to access people in need, while severe funding shortages hamper scale-up. Just 6 per cent of Yemen’s US$2 billion humanitarian funding needs have been met. UN Humanitarian Chief, Stephen O’Brien, has just traveled to Yemen to assess the latest crisis conditions and to push for better access to people in need. He left with one clear message: if we do not dramatically step up our aid efforts, famine will break out in this fragile country.

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