The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) announced that it would soon reduce the volume of food aid provided to 11 million Yemenis due to a lack of funding.
Three million Yemenis will receive a reduced food ration starting this month, joining the eight million that the World Food Program (WFP) had previously reduced their aid before.
According to WFP, food aid has been significantly reduced due to funding gaps.
The WFP warned that further cuts in aid are “inevitable if the funding shortfall continues” and that the number of those receiving full food ration will reduce to three million in February and further down to two million in March out of the total 13 million beneficiaries.
The cuts come at the worst times as food security indicators are the highest in years, reaching 53 percent of the population with inadequate food consumption.
Meanwhile, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) reported an 11 percent increase in malnutrition cases in Marib at the end of last year, noting that the humanitarian situation for internally displaced persons (IDPs) has deteriorated.
The United Nations estimates that 85 percent of displaced families are unable to pay rent regularly as livelihoods opportunities are scarce, and a quarter of those displaced in Marib have no source of income.
Residents fear the threat of eviction, with nine in ten of the settlements built on private land and without occupancy agreements.
Also, Oxfam’s Yemen Country Director Muhsin Siddiquey said that the escalation in the conflict, displacement, and death in Marib is a snapshot of the suffering faced by communities across Yemen.
“Ordinary people who have sought refuge in a place once described as an oasis of calm have become collateral damage in a protracted conflict. The only way out of this is for the warring parties to meet and negotiate a permanent peace settlement.”
Siddiquey warned that Yemen is now facing its fourth wave of COVID-19, and many displaced people lack access to basic facilities such as latrines and clean water.
Nearly eight years from the start of the conflict, only about half of the healthcare facilities are still operating, leaving two out of three Yemenis without access to health services.
