UN: 16mn in Yemen are food insecure

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) announced on Sunday that as many as 16.2 million people in Yemen are food insecure.

“Due to protracted conflict, 16.2 million people in Yemen are food insecure, while the devaluation of the currency has further made food unaffordable, exacerbating food insecurity & increasing the number of the hungry,” the UN agency’s office in Yemen posted on Twitter.

Last July, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations and the World Food Programme warned, in a joint report, of a high risk of famine spreading in 13 troubled regions around the world, most notably Yemen.

The UN has called on donor countries to allocate $3.85 billion to fund humanitarian aid in Yemen in 2021, stressing that two-thirds of the population requires assistance.

According to the UN, the war in Yemen has claimed the lives of more than 233,000 and has left 80 per cent of the population, about 30 million, dependent on foreign aid.

READ: Yemen women demonstrate against deteriorating economic conditions