Young Yemeni girl standing with lots of water cans as her family collects water from pumps

Yemen

Families living in war-torn Yemen are facing the world's worst humanitarian crisis in decades.

Years of conflict and fighting has left Yemen’s health care system fragile. Most Yemenis also lack stable access to a healthy, nutritious diet.

The escalating armed conflict remains one of the main root causes of life-threatening hunger in Yemen today. High rates of transmissible diseases, minimum dietary diversity and recurring natural disasters, combined with a lack of commitment from donor countries, has exacerbated the situation.  Around 49% of Yemenis have no access to safe water and 55% have no access to soap.

The Covid-19 pandemic has aggravated the situation further. Sudden lockdowns by neighbouring states have stopped communities from being able to work and have weakened the average household purchasing power.

Our reach

  • 504,427

    Action Against Hunger's programmes reached over 500,000 people in 2020.

  • 29.2M

    Yemen has a population of more than 29 million people.

  • 46%

    More than 46% of Yemeni children under five suffer from malnutrition

The threat of Covid-19 will put communities at risk. Parts of the country lack the basic resources to fight the virus and health care facilities and hospitals are ill equipped to face a pandemic of this scale.

In settlement camps, where many displaced families live, social distancing is almost impossible.

“We already had a crisis here well before coronavirus, so you can imagine what the situation is like now.”

Dr. Samar Kanzel. Action Against Hunger’s Deputy Programme Manager (Yemen)

Action Against Hunger’s programmes in Yemen

Despite tight restrictions in the country, we continue to support vulnerable children and their families through our nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene (WaSH) and mental health services.

In 2020 our work involved:

  • supporting and training mother-leaders to create awareness about infant and young child feeding.
  • supporting female-headed households with unconditional grants to support them through the deteriorated economic situation in the country
  • installing solar panels for health facilities and field offices, producing minimum waste and using local materials.

Action Against Hunger Yemen was also the lead in the consortium focusing on mitigating primary and secondary impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Bahaa, an Action Against Hunger member of staff in Yemen.

YemenDealing with Covid-19

Communities who have had to leave their homes to keep their families safe from conflict are now facing a new, deadly threat.

How we're responding
Ali next to the mobile clinic in his village in Abyan province, Yemen.

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