Ongoing conflict and bombardment in Yemen is worsening an already fragile humanitarian situation. Increasing numbers of people are being displaced, building pressure on areas with already scare resources. Out of a population of approximately 27.6 million, roughly three quarters are in need of humanitarian assistance.
Communities across Yemen are working together to keep themselves and their children safe despite facing daily struggles. A lack of access to, safe water and food and resulting malnutrition increases risk of contracting increasingly prevalent water-borne diseases such as cholera. Children in particular are feeling the impact of the conflict. With millions of children out of school, Yemen’s younger generation are lacking the security and stability of a ‘normal’ childhood.
For people across Yemen, life is incredibly challenging:
- Around 60% of people are food insecure (OCHA, 2017)
- Every 10 minutes a child under the age of five dies from preventable causes (UNICEF, 2016)
- An estimated 15.7 million people do not have access to safe drinking water (OCHA, 2017)
- Around 4.5 million people are in need of emergency shelter and household items (OCHA, 2017)
Islamic Relief in Yemen
Islamic Relief has been working in Yemen since 1998, and have been implementing seasonal Ramadan and Qurbani food distributions since then. Islamic Relief teams have responded to emergencies with urgent supplies of relief and have also worked on long-term development projects in the area. Our programmes were significantly strengthened following the escalation of the conflict in March 2015.
After three years of intense conflict 22.2 million people in Yemen need humanitarian aid to survive – more than in any other single country in the world.
The tragedy has reached epic proportions, with a child dying every 10 minutes from preventable causes like diarrhoea, breathing infections and malnutrition.
More than 2 million people are internally displaced, humanitarian access is difficult and the government has not been able to pay salaries.
We work in 19 of the country’s 22 governorates, delivering aid to many hard-to-reach areas. Our country office is in the capital, Sana’a, and we have eight sub-offices in Dhamar, Amran, Aden, Taiz, Hodeida, Saada, Maarib and Rymah.
Our emergency and development response, including food aid, water and sanitation, health care, orphan and child welfare and vocational training for young people, has benefitted millions of people over the last three years.
As one of the UN World Food Programme’s biggest partners, we are currently distributing more than 200,000 large food parcels to families in six governorates around Yemen.
Islamic Relief is calling for all parties of the conflict to respect international humanitarian law so that aid workers and medical staff are able to do their life-saving work without being attacked.