Yemen is now the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, including the fastest growing cholera epidemic ever recorded, and the world’s largest food emergency. Some 20 million people require humanitarian assistance, 7 million of whom are severely food insecure, staving off the threat of famine.
Despite challenging conditions and lack of funding, UN and humanitarian parties are providing direct assistance to more than 7 million people each month. During a visit to Yemen in October by the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, he stressed the need for more funding and better humanitarian access to the population in need, calling all parties to ensure respect for international humanitarian law and the protection of civilians.
The Yemen Humanitarian Response Plan is 56.9 per cent funded with $1.3 billion of the $2.3 billion required to reach the 12 million people in need of humanitarian support and protection this year.
UNFPA's response in Yemen has so far reached nearly 1.5 million people with reproductive health and gender-based violence services. Support in October included treatment of 23 fistula cases in Sana'a and Aden. In addition, nearly 2,000 'mama kits' containing items for the hygiene and protection of mothers and their newborns were provided to 25 maternity units across eight governorates.
A three-day needs assessment visit, to the port city of Al Hudaydah, a strategic target in the current conflict and the main entry point for essential commercial and humanitarian goods into northern Yemen, was conducted in October. UNFPA will work to scale up support to the Al-Thawra Hospital in Al Hudaydahl by way of maternal life-saving medicines and more reproductive health kits and supplies, and work towards strengthening maternal services in remote and conflict-affected areas of the governorate. In addition, provision of services and referral pathways for survivors of gender-based violence will be improved, given the very high incidence of gender-based violence reported in the governorate.
