GNV News, August 20, 2024

According to an announcement from the World Health Organization (WHO) Yemen office, 540,000 children under the age of five in the country are suffering from severe wasting, which carries a high risk of imminent death. Yemen has long faced a humanitarian crisis caused by armed conflict and border blockades, and it has been reported that in some areas the degree of acute malnutrition has increased by 34% compared to 2023.

The armed conflict in Yemen escalated in 2014 after the Houthi movement (official name: Ansar Allah) expelled the government from the capital, Sana’a, prompting a coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to intervene. Supported by U.S. military assistance, the coalition continued its offensive while blockading land, sea, and air routes to areas controlled by the Houthis. Because of the scale of the humanitarian harm caused, the conflict in Yemen has come to be described as one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises. More recently, in response to Israel’s incursion into the Gaza Strip and the Houthi movement’s attacks on Israel-linked vessels and other targets, the United States and Israel have carried out military strikes in Yemen, and it has been pointed out that the food situation could further deteriorate.

Learn more about the Yemen conflict → “Yemen Conflict: A New Phase“

Learn more about global food issues → “Global Food Shortages: The Unreported Problem“

A parent and child cooking at a displacement camp in Yemen (Photo: EU Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid / Flickr [CC BY-NC-ND 2.0])