Responding to the just released Integrated Phase Classification (IPC) report on Yemen, a group of UN agencies–the World Food Program, the Food and Agriculture Organization, UNICEF among them—warned in a March 14 press release that “today, more than 17.4 million Yemenis are in at least a phase 3 `serious’ acute malnutrition stage; an additional 1.6 million are expected to fall into emergency levels of hunger” in coming months, taking the total of those with emergency needs, to 7.3 million by the end of the year.”
Headlined, “Yemen facing ‘outright catastrophe’ over rising hunger,” the article warned that humanitarians are extremely concerned over the likelihood that the number of people experiencing “catastrophic"—or famine-like—levels of hunger, will increase five-fold, from 31,000 now, to 161,000 by Dec. 31. A March 14 article in Common Dreams adds that there are 2.2 million children who are acutely malnourished—538,000 of whom are severely malnourished. Moreover, 1.3 million pregnant and lactating women are also suffering from acute malnutrition.
World Food Program Executive Director David Beasley said that “these harrowing figures confirm that we are on a countdown to catastrophe in Yemen and we are almost out of time to avoid it. Unless we receive substantial new funding immediately, mass starvation and famine will follow. But if we act now, there is still a chance to avert imminent disaster and save millions.” He has pointed out that the heavily food-import dependent Yemen imports 30% of its wheat from Ukraine, and that the war in that country will affect its ability to export to Yemen, and could bring the global hunger crisis “to levels beyond anything we’ve seen before.” He expressed the fear that the malnourished children of Yemen “have been forgotten by the world.”
On March 16, the UN is holding a High Level Pledging Event on the Humanitarian Crisis in Yemen, co-sponsored by Sweden and Switzerland.
