Yemen, one of the oldest inhabited areas on Earth, is also the poorest nation in the Arab world. With ongoing violence and conflict, less than half of the country's health facilities function and 20.7 million people are in need of daily essentials such as food, safe water and shelter.
Our teams on the ground are striving to support this nation in crisis, providing essential relief and livelihood support.
Ongoing conflict and bombardment in Yemen is worsening an already fragile humanitarian situation. Increasing numbers of people are being displaced, building pressure on areas with already scare resources. Out of a population of approximately 27.6 million, roughly three quarters are in need of humanitarian assistance.
Communities across Yemen are working together to keep themselves and their children safe despite facing daily struggles. A lack of access to, safe water and food and resulting malnutrition increases risk of contracting increasingly prevalent water-borne diseases such as cholera. Children in particular are feeling the impact of the conflict. With millions of children out of school, Yemen's younger generation are lacking the security and stability of a 'normal' childhood.
For people across Yemen, life is incredibly challenging:
Around 60% of people are food insecure (OCHA, 2017)
Every 10 minutes a child under the age of five dies from preventable causes (UNICEF, 2016)
An estimated 15.7 million people do not have access to safe drinking water (OCHA, 2017)
Around 4.5 million people are in need of emergency shelter and household items (OCHA, 2017)
Islamic Relief in Yemen
Islamic Relief has been working with communities in Yemen since 1998, implementing seasonal Ramadan and Qurbani food distributions, responding to ongoing emergencies and when possible delivering long-term development programmes.
For families in crisis, we provide essential non-food items as part of our winterisation projects and emergency nutrition to families in crisis including malnourished children and pregnant/lactating women. We have also provided families with life-saving medicines to treat cholera.
In addition, we offer essential livelihood assistance to locals, helping farmers and fishermen overcome drought, and increasing women and young people's ability to earn a living through the provision drought-resistant tools and livelihood and skills training.
Through our Yemen Emergency Appeal we're continuing to serve communities across the country.