Yemen

Nearly two out of every five families in Yemen buy food and medicines using debt, according to Oxfam research published today. 

Donors have given the equivalent of 25 US cents per day for each of the 24.3 million people in need in Yemen, about half the amount given last year, Oxfam warned today.

The dramatic cut comes despite COVID-19 heaping further challenges on a country already suffering the world’s worst humanitarian disaster.

In response to today’s Virtual High-Level Side Event on Yemen, Muhsin Siddiquey, Oxfam’s Country Director in Yemen said: “After years of conflict, two-thirds of the population are in need of humanitarian assistance, one in eight people are displaced, and levels of hunger and utmost poverty continue to increase. In this context, the country cannot cope with the further crisis of COVID-19."

Yemenis are battling a third wave of COVID, which threatens 99 per cent of the population who are unvaccinated, Oxfam said today.

Oxfam confirms the death of colleague Fathi Mahmoud Ali Salem Al-Zurigi in Yemen on the evening of Tuesday May 25, after a shooting incident on Monday May 24. 

In response to the Global Report on Food Crises released today, Oxfam International’s Global Advisor for Emergency Food Security and Livelihoods Emily Farr said: “Oxfam is deeply concerned by the findings from the Global Report on Food Crises released today, which show that the confluence of conflict, economic shocks including from COVID-19, and extreme weather exacerbated by climate change has radically increased extreme hunger and inequality around the globe.

A year on since the UN warned of “famines of biblical proportions”, rich donors have funded just 5 percent of the UN’s $7.8bn food security appeal for 2021. More than 200 NGOs published an open letter today calling upon all governments to urgently increase aid to stop over 34 million people, from being pushed to the brink of starvation this year.

Reacting to the reports that the Saudi-led coalition has allowed four ships to dock at the blockaded port of Hudaydah Oxfam’s Yemen Country Director Muhsin Siddiquey said: “The move hopefully sets a precedent allowing full access of essential food and fuel imports and humanitarian aid to a country on the brink of famine. The blockade has been a critical factor in creating the world’s largest humanitarian crisis and must be fully lifted to prevent further suffering.

Evidence is mounting that a second wave of Covid-19 is already underway in Yemen, Oxfam warned today, with a 22-fold increase in recorded cases in recent weeks. It comes at a time when it is feared renewed fighting will force hundreds of thousands of people to flee to safety.

In response to the Virtual High-Level Pledging Event for the Humanitarian Situation in Yemen, Muhsin Siddiquey, Oxfam’s Country Director in Yemen said:  “Donors’ pledges to Yemen fall woefully short of what is desperately needed. Torn apart by six years of brutal conflict, with two thirds of the population reliant on food aid to survive, and thousands facing famine, Yemen desperately needs a ramping up not a reduction in aid."