Malnutrition kills IDPs in Sa’adah

In Yemen, food insecurity and malnutrition are approaching critical levels. One in three Yemenis struggle to provide the food then need on a daily bases for their selves and their families. According to a recent survey conducted by the World Food Program (WFP), Yemen faces hunger challenges of monumental proportions.

“The WFP food assistance program is critical for the survival of the hungriest, weakest, most vulnerable members of Yemeni society. In addition to feeding the hungry, the program also brings stability to populations affected by conflict,” explained Daly Belgasmi, the WFP’s Regional Director for the Middle East, Central Asia and Eastern Europe. “We are grateful for the donor community and their long standing support of the WFP’s work in Yemen. Together, the regional and international community must take the lead in addressing these acute needs. We must redouble our efforts to protect and assist the weakest and the poorest to stop this vicious cycle of poverty, hunger and malnutrition.”

Yemen faces a complex array of humanitarian challenges, with conflict in the north and an ever-increasing influx of refugees from the Horn of Africa. These challenges are compounded with the evidence of an increasing rate of poverty among the general population, caused by persistently high food prices. The global financial crisis has continued to exacerbate inflation across the country.

Preliminary results from WFP’s comprehensive food security survey show that more than one in three Yemenis are now suffering from acute hunger.

According to the survey, 12 per cent of the population suffers from severe food insecurity. One in every 10 children under the age of 5 is acutely malnourished. There is additional evidence of a clear cycle in which malnutrition is passed from mother to child.

In Yemen, 25 per cent of all women of childbearing age are malnourished and, as a result, the levels of stunting among children place Yemen among the top three countries in the world where children are underweight for their age.

WFP operations in Yemen are currently providing critical assistance to 1.5 million people every month. This includes the more then 250,000 persons internally displaced by the conflict in the north of the country.

However, the UN Food Agency currently faces serious shortfalls within 75% of all their operations in Yemen. The Agency needs more then US $45 million before the end of June 2010 alone.

These serious deficits have forced the WFP to shorten the life saving rations of both the refugees and internally displaced people this month.

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