More than 19 million people facing hunger in Yemen: OCHA
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The OCHA warns that more than eight million women and children, including more than 500,000 severely malnourished children, in Yemen are in dire need of nutrition help.
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More than 8 million women and children in Yemen need nutrition help
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) announced Tuesday that hunger in Yemen has reached its highest level since 2015.
In a report, the OCHA highlighted that "more than 19 million people are going hungry, including more than 160,000 on the verge of famine."
"Funding cuts are hampering our ability to help people in need. Last December, the World Food Programme was forced to reduce food rations for 8 million people due to funding gaps and had to introduce another round of cuts last month," the UN body indicated.
The OCHA pointed out that "five million people will now receive less than half of their daily requirement, and 8 million people will receive less than one-third of their daily requirement."
The report underlined that "more than 8 million women and children in Yemen need nutrition help, including more than 500,000 severely malnourished children," warning that "by July, UNICEF may have to stop treatment for more than 50,000 severely malnourished children."
In the same context, the OCHA pointed out that by July, "UNICEF will suspend its work on safe water and sanitation for up to 3.6 million people."
"More than 4 million people in Yemen are currently internally displaced. These families are four times more likely to experience food insecurity than those who are not uprooted," the report warned.
It also said that "by July, the UN Refugee Agency will slash its cash assistance, shelter, and basic relief items for 150,000 displaced people and for nearly 100,000 refugees and asylum-seekers."
"On health care, UNICEF will suspend maternal and child health support which helps up to 2.5 million children and 100,000 women by July," the OCHA concluded.
Ukraine war forced WFP to reduce food aid to Yemen
In the same context, the UN's World Food Programme (WFP) has announced further reductions in food aid to Yemen as a result of funding gaps, price rises, and the fallout from the Ukraine war.
"Critical funding gaps, global inflation and the knock-on effects of the war in Ukraine have forced WFP in Yemen to make some extremely tough decisions about the support we provide to our beneficiaries," the food aid program tweeted Sunday.
As a result, it said it had to drastically scale back assistance for 13 million Yemenis who receive emergency food aid in the country that the UN says is facing the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
"We are now being driven to scale back that support for five million of those people to less than 50 percent of the daily requirement, and for the other eight million to around 25 percent of the daily requirement," the WFP said.
"Resilience and livelihood activities, and school feeding and nutrition programmes will cease for four million people, leaving assistance available for only 1.8 million people," it added.
It is noteworthy that the war on Yemen has killed more than 150,000 people and displaced millions of civilians, according to the UN.
Check this: Yemen: 7 years and the aggression is ongoing
The UN humanitarian coordinator for Yemen, David Gressly, previously warned that the humanitarian situation is worsening in the country, saying almost three-quarters of the population is in need of assistance.
"WFP is acutely aware of the devastating impact of the cuts on Yemen's poorest and most needy families and we do not take their plight lightly," the UN's food aid arm added.
The already food insecure country is particularly vulnerable to spiraling global food and energy prices as a result of the war in Ukraine.
