Yemen02 October, 20262 min read
WFP Says Saudi-Backed Forces And Houthis Push Yemen Hunger To Record Levels
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74 percent of government-held households cannot meet basic food needs. Hunger has reached record levels amid escalated fighting between Saudi-led forces and Houthis.
Hunger surges as fighting escalates
The United Nations food agency says three out of four families in parts of Yemen are going hungry after a surge in fighting displaced tens of thousands of people and disrupted food supplies. The World Food Programme said 74 percent of households in accessible government-held areas cannot meet their basic food needs, a record for this year, and it estimated 10 million people reside in government-held areas.
Matthew Hollingworth warned that the latest flare-up “threatens to be absolutely devastating” for food security, and he said WFP is “looking at a hunger crisis that is going to grow as it persists.” WFP said Yemen imports about 90 percent of its food, and it warned that markets are disrupted and aid access shrinks as fighting escalates between Saudi-backed government forces and the Iran-aligned Houthi group.
WFP scales up, funding gap
WFP said it is scaling up its response to reach up to 1.5 million people, but it needs $109 million to do so. WFP said it has already diverted resources from food distributions planned for November, and it warned that without new funding, vulnerable displaced people will face gaps in assistance within a month.
Matthew Hollingworth told reporters in Geneva via video link from Rome that “The consequences of the latest security escalation could be catastrophic by all measures for food security.” WFP said across Yemen, 18.3 million people face severe food insecurity, including 2.2 million acutely malnourished children under five, and it said 500,000 of those children are suffering from severe acute malnutrition.
Displacement and access pressures
WFP said displaced families are arriving outside Aden and around Taiz with no food or water after leaving everything behind, and it said access to frontline areas such as Taiz has become increasingly difficult due to fighting. WFP warned that disruption around the Houthi-controlled Bab el-Mandeb Strait and the Strait of Hormuz could push up food and fuel prices globally, and it said more than 3,700 people fleeing the fighting had reached Djibouti via the Bab el-Mandeb Strait by late September.
WFP said it has assisted more than 70,000 people in displacement hotspots in Taiz and Lahj, but it is increasingly struggling to reach populations in frontline areas. WFP said humanitarian workers have lost the ability to reach nearly 350,000 people who were receiving aid previously after those areas came under the control of Houthi de facto authorities, and it said 73 UN staff including 38 WFP staff remain held.