Yemen: Hunger crisis worsens as funding cuts leave millions without aid

Around five million people – or 47 percent of the population – are currently experiencing crisis or more severe levels of acute food insecurity (Stage 3 and above).

Meanwhile, another 1.4 million people are trapped in the “emergency” phase, and that number is expected to continue to grow as the year goes on.

“Families are increasingly pushed beyond their capacity to cope with the combined impacts of economic collapse, climate shocks, disrupted livelihoods, and declining humanitarian support.,” Food and Agriculture Organization (F.A.O), World Food Program (WFP) and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said in a joint statement.

Hunger deepens

The lean season that occurs from June to September is expected to push the number of people facing emergency conditions to 1.5 million.

Looking ahead, the post-harvest period from October to December 2026 is unlikely to bring significant recovery as the number of people in Emergency (IPC Phase 4) is expected to continue to increase to 1.8 million people.

Food insecurity remains a major cause of the high burden of malnutrition in Yemen after more than a decade of war between Houthi rebels and the internationally recognized government.

Reduced dietary diversity, poor household food consumption, limited access to essential preventive nutrition services, and worsening living conditions increase the risk of acute malnutrition, particularly among pregnant and breastfeeding women and young children.

Economic downturn and aid cuts

Irregular wages, high food and fuel prices, reduced income opportunities and constraints on agricultural production limit families’ ability to meet even basic food needs.

About 60 percent of households in Yemen are at least partially dependent on agriculturebut crops are facing increasing pressure from extreme weather, pest outbreaks and supply chain disruptions.

At the same time, humanitarian food aid and humanitarian interventions in the areas of nutrition, health, and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) are expected to provide benefits to communities. sharp declineyou because critical funding shortageremoving support when it is needed most.

Mobile teams reach underserved areas

Against this background, WHOcoordinating with its local partners in Aden and Marib, delivering health services directly to people in refugee camps to respond to the increased risk of malaria.

In Al-Shaab camp in Aden, where many refugee families live in difficult conditions, health challenges are part of daily life.

Overcrowding, poor environmental conditions and limited access to services increase the risk of malaria and other vector-borne diseases, especially for women and children.

For 21-year-old Abeer Abdulwarith Mohammed Saeed, the challenge is familiar. “Sometimes, at night, a child suddenly has a fever, diarrhea or vomiting, and there are no emergency services available to us,” he said.

“If I, my husband or my child are sick, we cannot get treatment because of limited capacityhe added.

‘We are healthy’

The teams implemented strategies, through mobile clinics spread throughout the camps, to detect and diagnose cases early, especially in areas far from health services.

For Ms. Saeed and her family, the visit from the mobile team provided reassurance.

“The medical team helped us today by carrying out malaria and dengue fever tests for me and my children,” he said. “We waited for the results and thank God there was no malaria. We are healthy.”

Urgent funding is needed

The core UN aid agencies involved are calls on the international community to immediately increase funding for humanitarian food assistance, nutrition services, health, agriculture and resilience programs.

Without immediate, sustained and scaled-up action, millions of vulnerable people risk starvation, malnutrition and irreversible loss of livelihoods.