The UN Refugee Agency in Yemen revealed that over 1,200 Yemeni families, mainly from Hudaydah, Marib and Shabwah, have fled their homes in the first two weeks of 2022.
This adds up to the 4.2 million people already displaced across the country since the outbreak of the war in Yemen in 2015.
The UNHCR further pointed out that the humanitarian needs are massive, while funding is very limited.
The reports came as Yemen continues to be mired in a years-long conflict underway, which in addition to the loss of life is tearing apart livelihoods, social fabric, causing Yemen to teeter on the brink of famine, and resulting in widespread reversals of development progress.
World’s Worst Humanitarian Crisis
Since the conflict escalated in March 2015, Yemen remains one of the largest humanitarian crises in the world, with around 21 million people in need of humanitarian assistance, including more than 11 million children.
The country has become a living hell for the country’s children. Less than half of health facilities are functioning, and many that remain operational lack basic equipment. Many health workers have not received a regular salary in several years.
At least 10,000 children have been killed or maimed since the beginning of the conflict, and thousands more have been recruited into the fighting. An estimated 2 million children are internally displaced. The damage and closure of schools and hospitals has also disrupted access to education and health services. More than two million children are out of school, leaving them even more vulnerable.
Meanwhile, Yemen has been plagued by one of the world’s worst food crises, with nearly 2.3 million children under the age of five suffering from acute malnutrition. Of these, 400,000 are expected to suffer from severe acute malnutrition and could die if they do not receive urgent treatment.
Since then, it has regularly been called the “world’s worst humanitarian crisis” by the United Nations and other organisations.
