According to the website of the nacoesunidas.org, the United Nations warned on Thursday (14) that an estimate of 24 million people – close to 80% of the population – need assistance and protection in Yemen. As hunger threatens hundreds of thousands of lives, humanitarian aid increasingly becomes the only form of survival for millions in the country.
Data from the UN agency show that a total of 17.8 million people do not have access to safe water and sanitation and that 19.7 million do not have adequate access to health. Poor sanitary conditions and water-borne diseases, including cholera, have left hundreds of thousands of sick people in the last year.
The United Nations warned on Thursday (14) that an estimated 24 million people – close to 80% of the population – need assistance and protection in Yemen. As hunger threatens hundreds of thousands of lives, humanitarian aid increasingly becomes the only form of survival for millions in the country.
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), “the seriousness of needs is deepening.” The number of people in serious need is 27% higher than last year, when it already represented the most acute crisis on the planet.
The report “Human needs for Yemen 2019”, published on Thursday, shows that 14.3 million people are classified as in acute need, with about 3.2 million needing treatments for acute malnutrition. This includes 2 million children under 5 years of age and more than 1 million pregnant and lactating women.
Noting that more than 20 million people in the country are in a situation of food insecurity, half of them with extreme levels of hunger, the report focuses on some essential humanitarian issues: basic survival needs, protection of civilians and Essential basic services.
“The worsening of the conflict since March 2015 has dramatically accentuated the protection crisis, in which millions face security risks and their basic rights,” said Ocha.
Data from the UN agency show that a total of 17.8 million people do not have access to safe water and sanitation and that 19.7 million do not have adequate access to health. Poor sanitary conditions and water-borne diseases, including cholera, have left hundreds of thousands of sick people in the past year. Meanwhile, grains that can help feed millions of people are at risk of rotting in an important warehouse in the Red Sea because conditions are not safe to get to the site, they said earlier this week the UN special envoy for Yemen, Martin Griffiths, and U.N. humanitarian chief Mark Lowdick.
Number of dead and displaced persons
During the past four years, intense conflict between government forces and Houthis rebels has left tens of thousands of dead and wounded, including at least 17,700 civilians, as verified by the UN.
The agency added to this an estimated 3.3 million of people still displaced, an increase compared to the 2.2 million last year, including 685,000 people who fled from clashes in Hodeida and the west Coast from June.
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the number of places that host displaced persons has increased by almost half in the last 12 months.
Commitment event in an
attempt to respond to urgent humanitarian needs, the United Nations and the Governments of Sweden and Switzerland will convene this month the third high-level commitment event for the humanitarian crisis in Yemen.
The event is scheduled for February 26 in Geneva, and seeks to raise support for humanitarian response and relief from the Yemeni people’s suffering. Earlier this month, U.N. humanitarian chief Mark Lowdick said it would take 4 billion dollars.
