Local Editor
Aid organizations are making an urgent plea for funding to shore up operations in war-torn Yemen, saying they have already been forced to stop some of their work even as coronavirus rips through the country.
Some 75 per cent of UN programs in Yemen have had to shut their doors or reduce operations. The global body's World Food Program had to cut rations in half and UN-funded health services were reduced in 189 out of 369 hospitals nationwide.
"It's almost impossible to look a family in the face, to look them in the eyes and say, 'I'm sorry but the food that you need in order to survive we have to cut in half'," Lise Grande, resident UN coordinator for Yemen, told AP.
The United States, one of the largest donors, decreased its aid to Yemen earlier this year.
A UN pledging conference for Yemen on Tuesday will seek $US2.4 billion ($A3.57 billion) to cover essential activities from June to December.
Tuesday's conference will be co-hosted by Saudi Arabia which has been leading a coalition of Arab and Gulf countries that has been bombing Yemen since 2015 in an attempt to forcefully reinstate the resigned regime of Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi.
Critics question the Saudis' high-profile role in rallying humanitarian support even as they continue to wage a war which has created the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
Reports indicate coronavirus is spreading at an alarming rate throughout the country.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by Website Team
