Yemenis are in urgent need of water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) assistance; access to clean and safe drinking water remains crucial for the good health and survival of a whole nation, according to the United Nations (UN).
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) tweeted that Yemen is suffering from the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, as nearly 15.4 million people lack access to safe water and sanitation.
The organization provided 2.1 million Yemenis with water, sanitation, and hygiene services last year.
The United Nations recently announced that every ten minutes, a child dies in Yemen from preventable causes, including hunger and disease.
The Executive Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Henrietta Fore said during a UN Security Council session that in Yemen, “almost 21 million – including 11.3 million children – need humanitarian assistance to survive.”
She detailed that “some 2.3 million Yemeni children are acutely malnourished, and 400,000 children under age five suffer from severe acute malnutrition.”
Furthermore, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs in Yemen, Martin Griffiths, recently announced that “nearly 50 front lines have reportedly killed or injured more than 1,200 civilians, as collapsing public services deprive people of clean water, sanitation, education, and health care, and cholera and COVID-19 spread freely under such conditions.”
He added that “famine is not just a food problem, it’s a symptom of a much deeper collapse,” he warned. People are starving not because there is no food, but because they cannot afford it.”
It is noteworthy that the World Bank warned on August 4th that nearly 70% of Yemen’s 30 million people are at risk of starvation.
