Rashad Mohammed Al-Alimi, President of the Presidential Leadership Council, stressed on Saturday the need to make optimal use of UN assistance to improve the living conditions of local communities in Yemen.
Al-Alimi’s statement came while two reports revealed that one child dies every 10 minutes from hunger in Yemen, while 89% of internally displaced in Yemen are unable to meet their daily food need and more than 20 million people require humanitarian assistance.
The Islamic Relief said that after nine years of conflict, malnutrition rates in Yemen are some of the highest ever recorded with more than 20.7 million people in need of humanitarian aid to survive and with a child dying every 10 minutes from hunger.
The organization said families in Yemen are facing ongoing armed conflict, displacement, disease and economic decline. It also noted malnutrition is spiraling in Yemen as people begin to feel the impact of recent cuts to humanitarian aid, leaving many families unable to afford essential food.
Islamic Relief said 17.6 million people in Yemen are facing food insecurity.
The organization, which operates from the British city of Birmingham said nearly 80% of the population live below the poverty line in the country while the price of essential food in the market is rising rapidly.
“Our teams have observed a surge in malnourished children over the past few months through our work in 159 nutrition centers across the country and the price of essential food in the market is rising rapidly, leaving many families unable to afford it,” the organization said.
It added that after 9 years of war, malnutrition rates in Yemen are some of the highest ever recorded and are expected to worsen. “Around 2.7 million women and 5 million children under 5 years old are estimated to require treatment for acute malnutrition in 2024,” it revealed.
Islamic Relief then urgently appealed to the international community to ensure the humanitarian response in Yemen is appropriately funded.
It said aid has been vital in preventing Yemen falling into famine in recent years, and it saved countless lives. But it added that if the international community continues to overlook the humanitarian situation in Yemen “then we will see conditions badly deteriorate again.”
UN and Yemeni Cooperation
Meanwhile, Al-Alimi made his statement during a meeting at Al-Maashiq presidential Palace with Abdallah Al Dardari, UN Assistant Secretary-General and Assistant Administrator and Director of the Regional Bureau for Arab States, and Julien Harneis, the UN Resident Coordinator in Yemen, said the government-run news agency, SABA.
Al-Alimi welcomed UN’s active efforts aimed at alleviating the Yemeni people’s suffering caused by the ongoing war in the country.
The Chairman stressed the importance of building upon the efforts of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and the Secretariat General of the Gulf Cooperation Council to address economic, developmental, and humanitarian challenges.
For his part, the UN Assistant Secretary General said the United Nations plans to deploy international expertise to help in developing a framework for the national economic recovery plan in Yemen.
A recent UN report revealed that approximately 89% of internally displaced people in Yemen are unable to meet their daily food needs, due to the worsening vulnerabilities and the erosion of the ability to withstand and adapt after nine years of conflict.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said in the report that the assessments it conducted during 2023 indicate high levels of social and economic vulnerabilities among displaced families, as only 11% of internally displaced people can meet their daily food needs, while 89% cannot.
In 2023, UNHCR conducted 136,913 household assessments, covering 820,440 individuals.
The results of these assessments indicate that 70% purchase less preferred or cheaper, lower quality food, 52.7% reduce portion sizes while 48.2% reduce the number of meals per day.
The results also indicate high levels of socio-economic vulnerabilities among IDP households and that opportunities to earn an income are limited and largely consist of informal and hazardous jobs.
The results further showed that 48.6% of the population report no source of income and 41.5% report monthly incomes of less than $50.
As a result, IDP households continuously struggle to meet their basic needs and many turn to harmful coping mechanisms to get by.
UNHCR assessments showed that 69.6% rely on debt to meet their basic needs, 46.4% reduce expenditure on essential non-food items, 41.1% reduce expenditure on healthcare and medicine, 10.8% sell productive assets, and 11.9% of children drop out of school.
The UN agency said Yemen remains among the most critical humanitarian crises globally.
For the majority of IDPs, humanitarian assistance, including in-kind food assistance and cash transfers, remain a critical source of life-saving support, it added.
