It has been four long years since the civil war began in Yemen, hurtling the poorest country in the Arabian Peninsula to the brink of starvation. Violent clashes between the Saudi-backed pro-government forces and the rebel Houthi movement have created the ‘worst man-made humanitarian crisis’ in our time, affecting more than 22 million people – which is almost 75 percent of the country’s population. Many of the major cities of Yemen has been victim to multiple airstrikes or are at risk of them.
This build-up of the Yemen Humanitarian Crisis has led to one of the worst famines in recent years. A child dies every 10 minutes in Yemen and 2.2 million children are currently starving. We can unanimously agree that the situation in Yemen is the worst of its kind in recent times and we must help! Crisis Aid is in Yemen now, working round the clock to provide emergency food, medicine and water to those in need, especially those in remote locations across the country.
For just £40 you can help us provide monthly food parcels – which include rice, cooking oil, beans, sugar and dates – to those hit the hardest and give them some hope of survival. Children and the vulnerable are dying every moment so please do not hesitate. Donate now.
Millions of Yemenis men, women and children have been affected by the civil war since its inception in 2015, with around three-quarters of the country’s population now needing some type of basic assistance to survive. As a result, poor families who already struggled before the war to provide adequate meals for their families have very little access to food and have even been reduced to eating grass to keep the hunger pangs at bay. With the sieges of all entry ports to the country the economy has collapsed and hardly any food enters Yemen from outside its borders.
According to the UN the biggest reason for the severe shortage of food in Yemen is the blockade currently in place on the port of Hudaydah – the main trade route to the capital Sana’a. To demonstrate the urgency of the Yemen Humanitarian Crisis, since 2018 another half a million Yemenis have been forced to flee their homes in Hudaydah, bringing the total of internally displaced people to over two million.
The Yemen Humanitarian Crisis has led to the collapse of the country’s political system, resulting in 100s of thousands of families losing their source of income, as professionals such as teachers and health workers stopped receiving wages. Ultimately this leads to desperately scrounging for food or having to reluctantly turn to international aid to survive.
The consequent collapse of Yemen’s infrastructure means the inevitable breakdown of public utilities, most importantly clean running water. Reports show that due to the lack of this basic need, cholera as well as acute watery diarrhoea has spread through the country at one of the fastest rates ever recorded. As a result Crisis Aid is actively running campaigns to provide water tankers and water wells for those affected.
The biggest tragedy during the Yemen Humanitarian Crisis has been the increasing deaths of thousands of children due to malnutrition. For many children who even make it to sparsely equipped hospitals and makeshift medical centres miles from their homes, sadly it is too late. Parents watch their innocent children succumb to a senseless war, which they hardly know anything about.
As we watch this tragedy in Yemen, Crisis Aid pledges to support victims for as long as necessary. We want to alleviate poverty and suffering to reduce unnecessary loss of life but we cannot do this without our generous supporters. Please donate generously while keeping in mind that these people are also eligible for your zakat.
