UN says Yemen famine can only be prevented with emergency £1.7bn
February 11 | Yamanyoon
UN says Yemen famine can only be prevented with emergency £1.7bn
The UN has launched an emergency appeal for $2.1 billion (£1.7 billion) to provide food and life-saving aid for Yemeni civilians caught up in the chaos of the country’s two-year-long civil war.
Around 12 million people are facing famine, with 3.3 million – including 2.1 million children – already acutely malnourished.
Approximately 55 per cent of the country’s medical infrastructure is out of action, and the economy and vital civil institutions have been devastated, the UN’s humanitarian coordinator in Yemen, Jamie McGoldrick, said on Wednesday at a briefing in Geneva.
“Many of the people never make it to the feeding centres or the hospitals because they can’t afford the transport,” he said.
“Many people die silent and unrecorded deaths, they die at home, they are buried before they are ever recorded.”
More than 10,000 people have died as a result of the conflict so far, including an estimated 63,000 children who died of preventable causes linked to malnutrition, Unicef said last week.
“If there is no immediate action, and despite the ongoing humanitarian efforts, famine is now a real possibility for 2017. Malnutrition is rife and rising at an alarming rate,” UN emergency relief coordinator Stephen O’Brien said.
