UN warns that humanitarian operations are shutting down in Yemen

In a statement issued on Wednesday, Ms. Grande said that 12 of the UN’s 38 major programs are shut or drastically reduced. Between August and September, 20 programs face further reductions or closure.

In April, food rations for more than 8 million people in northern Yemen were halved and humanitarian agencies were forced to stop reproductive health services in 140 facilities.

Health services were cut or reduced in a further 275 specialized centers treating people with cholera and other infectious diseases. Allowances to nearly 10,000 front-line health workers were stopped, and the supplies needed to treat trauma patients, who will almost certainly die without immediate treatment, were halted.

If funding is not urgently received in the next weeks, 50 per cent of water and sanitation services will be cut, and medicines and essential supplies for 189 hospitals and 2,500 primary health-care clinics, representing half of the health facilities in the country, will halt.

Thousands of children who are suffering from both malnutrition and disease will probably die and at least 70 per cent of schools will likely be shut or only barely able to function when the new school year starts in coming weeks. Tens of thousands of displaced people who have nowhere else to go will be forced to live in inhumane conditions.

At the High-Level Pledging Event for Yemen in Riyadh on 2 June, donors pledged US$1.35 billion of the $2.41 billion needed to cover essential humanitarian activities until the end of the year, leaving a gap of more than $1 billion.

Yemen remains the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. Nearly 80 per cent of the population – more than 24 million people – require some form of humanitarian aid and protection. (ILKHA)