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.

Commenting on the 2021 Humanitarian Needs Overview for Yemen Muhsin Siddiquey, Oxfam’s Country Director in Yemen, said: “The number of Yemenis in need is truly overwhelming, but we must remember that behind each of these statistics, there is a story of individual human suffering. 

In response to US Secretary of State Pompeo’s decision to designate the Houthis as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and Specially Designated Global Terrorist, Oxfam America’s Humanitarian Policy Lead Scott Paul said: “Secretary Pompeo’s decision to designate the Houthis as a terrorist organization is a counter-productive and dangerous policy that will put innocent lives at risk. This designation will not help to resolve the conflict or provide justice for the violations and abuses committed during the war; it will only compound the crisis for millions of Yemenis fighting for their survival.

In response to the UN recently launched Global Humanitarian Overview, estimating some 235 million people across the globe will be in need of life-saving support in 2021, Oxfam and 6 aid agencies said it is vital that they have unhindered access to those most in need and humanitarian appeals are fully funded. 

The threat of “COVID famines” and widespread extreme hunger are setting off every alarm bell within the international community, but so far sluggish funding of the UN's appeal is hampering humanitarian agencies’ efforts to deliver urgent assistance to people in need.

Wherever women are, peace is. Women and peace are synonyms.

Women from 11 conflict and post conflict countries share stories of fight to rebuild their countries and find peace a new photo collection that will be published on Word Peace Day on Monday, 21 September.

Reacting to the latest report by the UN’s Group of Eminent Experts on Yemen, Oxfam’s Yemen Country Director Muhsin Siddiquey said: “This damning evidence of indiscriminate attacks and serious violations of human rights by all sides in Yemen should shame all those who are fuelling this conflict by selling arms to the belligerents."

Medical and water infrastructure in Yemen has been hit during air raids almost 200 times since the conflict escalated more than five years ago, as the country continues to battle its outbreak of COVID-19.

Thousands of people in Yemen could be dying from undetected cases of cholera because COVID-19 has overwhelmed the country’s health facilities and people are too frightened to seek treatment for fear of the virus, Oxfam said today.

The number of coronavirus cases in Yemen is likely to peak in the coming weeks while the heaviest rains are expected in August which could deepen a hidden cholera crisis.