After six years of war, Yemen remains the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. More than 4 million people have been uprooted from their homes and more than 20 million are in dire need of humanitarian assistance. The risk of a large-scale famine in the country has never been more acute. Tens of thousands are already living in famine-like conditions, with a staggering five million more just one step away from it.
Yemen’s civil war began in 2015 as a result of clashes between Yemeni government forces and the Houthis - also known as Ansar Allah. Over the past six years, conflict and economic decline have taken a heavy toll on civilians, forcing millions to flee their homes and leaving 66 percent of the population in dire need of humanitarian assistance. Even before the current crisis, Yemen was the most vulnerable country in the Middle East. It ranked among the world’s worst in malnutrition rates and half of its population was living in poverty, without access to safe water.
More than four million Yemenis have been displaced from their homes since the beginning of the crisis, but the vast majority remain inside the country. In 2020 alone, approximately 172,000 people became uprooted, giving Yemen the fourth largest number of internally displaced people (IDPs) in the world - after Syria, Colombia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Many of the internally displaced have been living in exile for more than two years, straining their meager resources and facing increasingly harsh conditions. Approximately 66 percent of IDPs in Yemen live in dangerous locations, characterized by widespread food insecurity and lack of water, healthcare and sanitation services. Their situation has become even more challenging since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the threat of a looming famine in the country.
The risk of a large-scale famine, violence, collapsing services and protracted displacement are the biggest challenges in Yemen. Six years of intense fighting have pushed the country to the brink of economic collapse, leaving only half of the country’s health facilities fully functional and more than half of the country’s population without enough water and resources to meet their basic needs. Reports show that more than 16 million people could go hungry this year and half a million are already living in famine-like conditions.
And the COVID-19 pandemic is making things worse – with people’s immune systems already severely weakened after years of war and deprivation, Yemenis continue to grapple with the effects of the virus and outbreaks of other preventable diseases – such as cholera, diphtheria, measles, and dengue fever – that were long-ago eradicated elsewhere in the world.
Women and children are bearing the brunt of the crisis. They constitute 79 percent of the displaced population and are finding themselves in increasingly difficult circumstances.
Today, one of four of the displaced Yemeni families is headed by a woman or girl -- 20 percent are under the age of 18. They are forced to take on the responsibility to sustain their families while facing inequality, limited access to services and multiple barriers due to entrenched sociocultural norms. With rampant inflation and few livelihood opportunities, many can no longer afford basic meals and are facing heightened risks of starvation, gender-based violence, exploitation and early marriage. UN reports show that more than a million pregnant and lactating women are projected to suffer from acute malnutrition in the course of 2021.
Meanwhile, Yemeni children continue to be killed and injured. At least one child dies every ten minutes due to preventable diseases, and in some parts of the country, one child in four is now acutely malnourished. Furthermore, more than 2.3 million children under the age of five could suffer from acute malnutrition in 2021. Tens of thousands of other children are at risk of severe acute malnutrition and even death without urgent treatment.
The UN Refugee Agency is on the ground delivering protection and emergency aid to vulnerable displaced families in all of Yemen’s 20 governorates affected by conflict through the provision of shelter, essential household supplies, cash assistance and legal aid. It is also protecting and supporting more than 135,000 refugees and asylum seekers - mainly from Somalia and Ethiopia -who have found refuge in the country -- and working with local partners to treat acute malnutrition and control the spread of diseases.
During the pandemic, UNHCR has distributed hygiene kits, increased its cash assistance programs and promoted activities to raise awareness about COVID-19.
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