Local Editor

The following is the latest report [No. 12] from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs [UNOCHA] on the humanitarian situation in Yemen, which was published on June 22, 2015. It covers the period from 11 to 18 June 2015.   

Highlights

• The revised Yemen Humanitarian Response Plan [YHRP] was launched in Geneva on Friday 19 June calling for US$1.6 billion and within that prioritizing $758 million to meet the most critical needs.

• The collapse of the food and health sectors continues while the number of deaths and injuries is increasing.

• Ten out of the 22 governorates are now rated at emergency level [Level 4] - one level short of "famine."

• Despite access limitations and increasing funding constraints, humanitarian partners continue to scale up in country and preposition stocks throughout the region.

21.1m Affected people

11.7m Targeted for assistance

1,019,762 Internally displaced people [IDPs]

US$1.6bn Funding required to provide critical lifesaving assistance

Level 4 Food insecurity - Emergency level 4 in ten of 22 governorates

Situation Overview

The revised YHRP outlines overall humanitarian requirements of US$1.6 billion dollars and within this identifies nearly $758 million as urgently needed to address the most critical needs. The plan targets 11.7 million people for humanitarian assistance.

Violence is intensifying across the country with growing casualties since escalation of the conflict end-March. Over 2,800 deaths and close to 13,000 injuries linked to the violence have been reported in hospitals. The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights identified over 1,400 civilians killed and over 3,400 civilians injured. Both sets of numbers are thought to be much higher. UNICEF reports almost four times as many children have died in the past ten weeks as a result of the conflict in Yemen than were killed in the whole of 2014.

Food insecurity continues to deteriorate with close to 13 million people facing a food crisis. Both import reductions and limited port capacity are reported as obstacles adding to the precarious food situation faced by the Yemeni people. With the spiraling costs of cooking gas, and the near-absence of diesel for milling, fuel for transportation, and water for cooking, commercial grain stocks in the country are of little use. Acute malnutrition, already above the ten per cent emergency threshold, continues to rise, and without urgent action, the number of acutely malnourished children is forecast to rise to 1.3 million - including 400,000 severe cases. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification rates ten out of 22 governorates at the emergency level - one level short of "famine." This will have lasting consequences on the Yemeni society while negative coping mechanisms are beginning to be observed across the country.

On 11 June, the main power station in Aden, which generates electricity for four districts [Craiter, Al Mualla, Attawahi and Khur Maksar] was attacked and is no longer operational. The risk of cholera and other water-borne diseases, polio and mosquito-borne diseases across the country continues to escalate while dengue, rubella, and measles continue to spread. Poor sanitation conditions, lack of safe water, continued internal displacement, and the dysfunctional health system are creating the conditions for such outbreaks.