48 Countries Offer Just Half of Funds Needed to Rescue Two-Thirds of Yemenis

A young boy runs with his tyre past buildings damaged by airstrikes in Sa’ada Old Town, Yemen. Up until August 2015, this area was the home of Sa’ada’s oldest market with thousands of people selling vegetables, spices and fabrics in stores and street stalls. Photo: Giles Clarke/OCHA

The aim was to bridge a funding gap in the 2017 humanitarian appeal of $2.1 billion. Prior to the conference, only about 15 per cent had been met*.

“We are witnessing the starving and the crippling of an entire generation. We must act now, to save lives,” said Secretary-General António Guterres, who presided over the opening of the High-level Pledging Event on the humanitarian crisis in Yemen, alongside the Foreign Affairs Ministers of Switzerland and Sweden.

He noted that the “man-made crisis” had devastated the economy of a country that was “pitifully poor” even before the current conflict, and forced three million people from their homes – leaving many being unable to earn a living or grow crops.

“Some 17 million are food-insecure, making this the world’s largest hunger crisis,” Guterres said, highlighting a situation worsened by import restrictions and the destruction of port facilities.

Calling particular attention to children at risk in Yemen, Guterres said that on average, one child under the age of five dies of preventable causes every 10 minutes in Yemen.

“This means fifty children in Yemen will die during today’s conference – and all those deaths could have been prevented,” he stated.

‘Between famine and starvation lies disease’

More than two years of fighting has destroyed the country’s infrastructure – including attacks that targeted civilians. Some 325 attacks have been verified on health facilities, schools, markets and other infrastructure.

As the violence rose, the ability to aid those in need has been hampered. The disruption of health services has been “severe,” Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), told the pledging event.

Less than half of the country’s health facilities are functioning and the majority of health providers, if they stayed, have not been paid since at least August 2016.

She warned also that infections would increase as the population grows more hungry.

“Large swaths of the population are on the brink of famine,” Dr. Chan said. “Between famine and death from starvation lies disease. Infections that a well-nourished body wards off become deadly in severely malnourished people.”

She called for more services, such as vaccinations, and access to basic health services.

Avoiding famine by supporting farmers

On the sidelines of the pledging conference, Director-General of the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) Jose Graziano da Silva met with Yemeni Prime Minister Ahmed Obaid Bin Daghr to discuss aid to farmers.

During his address to the conference, da Silva noted that farming aid coupled with food assistance is the only way to avoid a famine in the country.

“Agricultural assistance in a humanitarian crisis can no longer be an afterthought,” the FAO Director-General said. “We need to seize every opportunity to support communities in Yemen to continue producing food, even under difficult circumstances.”

He stressed how livelihoods support, especially for agriculture and fishing, must be an integral part of the international community’s response to the crisis in Yemen.