Since 2015, Yemen has been facing the biggest humanitarian crisis in the world. Now, The United Nations have warned that three-quarters of the aid programmes backed by its agencies in Yemen will have to shut without more funding. Tara Pilkington reports.
The country facing the world’s worst humanitarian crisis following an ongoing civil war, a cholera outbreak and the ongoing coronavirus crisis, leaving 24million Yemenis population to rely on some form of aid.
The country’s malnourished population has among the world’s lowest immunity levels to disease. The UN has said that the country’s health system has in effect collapsed, with hospitals lacking beds and basic medicine and turning away those in desperate need.
International donors recently pledged $1.35billion for Yemen at a conference on 2 June, however this is well below a $2.4billion fundraising target for what is needed to prevent severe cutbacks in the UN’s aid operation.
Rupert Colville, UN human rights spokesman, told a briefing in Geneva: “More than 30 of the 41 UN-supported programmes in Yemen will close in the coming weeks if additional funds are not secured,”
He added: “Now, more than ever, the country needs the outside world’s help, and it’s not really getting it”.
