WHY YEMEN THE WORST HIT COUNTRY
• Yemen tops the IRC’s Watchlist for the second year running due to a prolonged civil war that has produced 3.65 million internally displaced people since 2015. Over 24 million Yemenis (80 percent of the population) are in need of humanitarian assistance, making it already the largest humanitarian crisis in the world.
• Efforts to resolve the conflict have yet to translate into reductions in humanitarian need, which will require massive improvements to the economy and infrastructure, along with political reform. If the conflict continues into 2022, the U.N. projects 500,000 deaths, with most due to indirect impacts of conflict like the degradation of health infrastructure.
HOW PREPARED ARE THEY FOR COVID-19
• More than 80% of Yemen’s population lacks food, fuel, drinking water and access to health care services, which makes it particularly vulnerable to diseases that can generally be cured or eradicated elsewhere in the world.
• About 3.3 million children and pregnant or breast-feeding women are acutely malnourished, including 462,000 children under five who face severe acute malnutrition.
• UNHCR said that nearly one million vulnerable displaced people and refugees in Yemen risked losing their shelter, vital cash assistance for essentials like food and medicine, and other assistance. The agency said that it received only 28 percent of the 2020 funding needed to protect and provide critical aid to displaced people.
• More than half of Yemen’s health care facilities have already been destroyed.
• The spread of Covid-19 to Yemen is a nightmare scenario. Many doctors and nurses have already fled the country and many health clinics have been destroyed in the fighting.
PROJECTS WORKING FOR BETTERMENT
• Yemen Aid- This group, founded by a Yemeni American, provides assistance and resources to Yemeni people, regardless of their race, political affiliation, ancestry or religion, in order to positively change, and ultimately save, lives.
• ICRC -The International Committee of the Red Cross has a well-organized operation in country, efficiently delivering food, clean water and essential household items. This year alone, the ICRC reached 4 million people with basic aid. The group has been outspoken in its call for an end to hostilities, working with all sides of the conflict.
• UNICEF-The United Nations Children’s Fund, in collaboration with local authorities, non-governmental organizations and community partners, is working in all parts of Yemen to respond to the needs of children throughout the country, providing food, shelter, sanitation, education and health services to help children survive and grow to their full potential. Surveys by UNICEF are an important gauge of the seriousness of Yemen’s humanitarian crisis.
• World Food Program- The World Food Program (WFP) began providing food aid to Yemenis long before the current war. As conditions have worsened, WFP has stepped up its efforts, more than doubling the number of people it served in Yemen, from 3.5 million in January to over 7 million in October. In addition, WFP reports on travel conditions throughout Yemen, shares space on its planes and trucks, and has a history of helping other organizations respond to humanitarian needs in Yemen.-