UN: Over 20m Yemenis in need of humanitarian aid

Almost two thirds of Yemen’s population are “facing a protection and humanitarian crisis that is quickly engulfing a large part of its population,” a UNOCHA brief about the humanitarian crisis in Yemen said, according to Anadolu.

It added: “An alarming 18.8 million people – almost two thirds of the population – need some kind of humanitarian or protection support. Some 10.3 million are in acute need of assistance.”

UNOCHA said that the number of Yemenis in need of humanitarian aid “has increased by 2 million to become 20.7 million,” due to loss of food security and the spread of cholera.

Read: Cholera death cases reach 1,858 in Yemen

“Currently 17 million people are food insecure while a staggering 7 million people do not know where their next meal is coming from and are at risk of famine,” the brief said. “About 9.8 million people are in an urgent need of life-saving assistance.”

It also said that “access to safe water has become a major challenge and the lack of proper sanitation has increased the risk of communicable diseases. A child under the age of five dies every 10 minutes of preventable causes.”

This is due to the fact that “at least 3 million people have fled their homes, public services have broken down, less than half of the health centres are functional and medicine and equipment are limited.”

The UN said that 8,167 people have been killed since the start of the war in March 2015 and 46,335 others had been wounded.

Read: UN says Saudi coalition killed 18 civilians in Yemen this week

It noted that 124 humanitarian organisations could access 36 per cent of the 2017 target numbers, despite the low funding.