Yemen Context

Following of the analysis of Humanitarian needs, Yemen remains one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world, with 20.7 million people – 70 per cent of the total population – in need of humanitarian assistance according to UNICEF appeal 2022. The severity of needs is deepening, with the number of people in acute need a staggering 27 percent higher than last year. Two-thirds of all districts in the country are already pre-famine, and one-third faces a convergence of multiple acute vulnerabilities. The protracted situation severely impacted the health and nutrition of children: nearly 400,000 children are severely malnourished, 2.3 million children and more than a million pregnant and lactating women are acutely malnourished.

Currently, more than 20 million people are food insecure while a staggering 7.4 million people do not know where their next meal is coming from and are at risk of famine.. More than 10 million Yemenis are no longer able to purchase the supplies they need to survive from local markets. Import restrictions, stockpiling of essential commodities and fluctuations in the value of the currency continue to put millions of people across the country at risk of famine. The situation is worsening especially with funding shortage.

An estimated 4.3 million people have fled their homes since the start of the conflict, including approximately 3.3 million people who remain displaced, about half of which are women, 27 percent of whom are below age 18. With limited shelter options, displaced women and girls are paying the heaviest price; they tend to suffer most from lack of privacy, threats to safety and limited access to basic services, making them even more vulnerable to violence, such as domestic violence, intimate partner violence, sexual exploitation and abuse, harassment, child marriage, and forced marriage.

Health services are degraded according to WHO, only 51% of health facilities remain fully functional, medicine and equipment are limited. Over 15.4 million people are in need of support to access their basic water and sanitation needs, of whom 8.7 million are in acute need. Cholera in Yemen has affected 1.7 million people. Access to safe water has become a major challenge, Yemenis are increasingly forced to resort to negative coping mechanisms in relation to WASH access and behaviors, significantly heightening the risk of malnutrition and increasing WASH-related disease and outbreaks including, cholera and dengue.