7.4 million people are at risk of famine in Yemen as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis continues. Ten years of conflict have deepened Yemen’s poverty, devastated its infrastructure, and caused widespread hunger and suffering.
Compounded with the aftermath of COVID-19, increasing living costs and the effects of climate change, Yemen’s population are struggling to meet even the most basic needs. As there are more people in need of humanitarian aid in Yemen than in most other countries in the world.
After years of intense conflict, the situation in Yemen is one of the worst humanitarian crises in decades.
Here’s how Islamic Relief is supporting the people of Yemen through the ongoing crisis.
Within the ongoing conflict in Yemen, tens of thousands of lives have been lost. Over 20 million people don’t know where their next meal will come from.
In 2021, torrential rain continued across Yemen, leading to severe flooding. More than 170 people lost their lives, with many others severely injured. In turn, an estimated 300,000 people lost their homes, crops, livestock and possessions. More flash floods hit the country in 2022 and 2023.
Yemen was already one of the poorest countries in the region. Now, it is on the brink of famine and collapse.
With families facing ongoing armed conflict, displacement, disease and economic decline, an estimated 24 million people (80% of the country’s population) are now in need of humanitarian aid just to survive – a figure so high that it is in fact one of the highest in the world. Yemen now officially hosts the world’s largest human-induced food security crisis.
Families and communities have been torn apart and left without even the most basic of living essentials:
Islamic Relief is currently on the ground in 17 of the country’s 22 governorates, delivering aid to many hard-to-reach areas. Islamic Relief’s country office is in the capital, Sana’a, with eight sub-offices in Dhamar, Amran, Aden, Taiz, Hodeida, Saada, Maarib and Rymah.
Our teams on the ground are providing essential food aid to families at risk of famine and facing food insecurity.
With your support, we can help these communities in their hour of need.
In the face of ongoing devastation and impending famine, your donations are a lifeline to our brothers and sisters in Yemen, who are in desperate need of aid.
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It has been five very long, frightening and sorrowful years since the lives of Yemeni citizens were quite literally turned upside down.
Today, the situation in Yemen is one of the worst humanitarian crises in decades. It is the world’s largest human-induced crisis and has seen armed conflict, displacement, risk of famine, disease outbreaks and severe economic decline.
Even before the escalation of the conflict in March 2015, Yemen was one of the poorest countries in the region. The many years of conflict have exacerbated this, leaving millions of Yemenis struggling to find food, water and basic health care.
After almost five years of intense conflict in Yemen, an estimated 24 million people (around 80% of the population) are in need of humanitarian aid to survive. This is more than any other country in the world.
Ahmed Hussain Mor’ie is 55 years old, lives with a disability and has been unemployed for 18 years. Without any source of income, Ahmed and his family have been displaced from their home in Mandhar to Al-Hudaidah city, where the family of nine is forced to live in a rented one-bedroom house.
“While airstrikes were upon us, we managed to escape the village on the first day of Eid with only our clothes, walking long distances on foot and arrived at sunset unable to find transport to the nearest city, when a stranger showed kindness towards us and dropped us off”, says Ahmed.
What’s more, resources are extremely limited and the family struggle to meet their daily needs, which makes every aspect of life more of a challenge. When it comes to cooking, they struggle to find wood to light a fire and their only source of light at night comes from a single hand torch.
Working with the World Food Programme, Islamic Relief Yemen worked to ease Ahmed’s difficulties by providing his family with food packages every month. The packages, which consist of flour, beans, cooking oil, salt and sugar, are a lifeline for families like Ahmed’s. They’ve provided them with some security and hope for the future.
“The food we receive from this program is really helping us. Without it we would have been facing even more difficulties”, says Ahmed.
Islamic Relief has been providing an emergency response since the conflict in Yemen started. This work has reached more than 3.4 million people in 2019 alone, spanning across many sectors including food aid, water, sanitation and hygiene, nutrition and healthcare.
We’ve also worked hard to offer our help and support to orphans and to protect child welfare.
As a global family, we are working to combat the spread of Covid-19. Working with UN agencies and local authorities, Islamic Relief has supported 269 families in quarantine and provided 90, 000 families with sanitation facilities. For more information about the Islamic Relief family’s work in Yemen, please read this report.
There’s no doubt we still have a long way to go when it comes to supporting the people of Yemen.
We are in urgent need of a just and long-lasting solution to ensure that the people of Yemen finally see an end to their suffering. Help us to be a lifeline for these people by donating to our Yemen Appeal.
