Yemen: Malnutrition

(asked on 18th October 2021) - View Source

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent estimate she has made of the number of people at risk of starvation in Yemen.


Answered by
James Cleverly Portrait
James Cleverly
Home Secretary
This question was answered on 26th October 2021

The latest projection that we have available on food insecurity in Yemen was published by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) on 3 December 2020. This estimated that nearly 50,000 Yemenis are currently living in famine-like conditions and at least 16.2 million people (54 per cent of Yemen's population) are at risk of starvation and death.

The UK has already disbursed 85 per cent of our £87 million commitment to Yemen this financial year which will feed around 240,000 of the most vulnerable Yemenis every month. We also provided one-off cash support to 1.5 million of Yemen's poorest households to help them buy food and basic supplies. Given the disproportionate impact on women and children, our funding to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has already supported over 2 million pregnant women and new mothers with nutrition counselling and education since 2018. We fully support the peace process led by the UN Special Envoy, Hans Grundberg, and urge the parties to engage constructively with this process and call on all states to release humanitarian funding commitments promptly. An inclusive political settlement is the only way to bring long-term stability to Yemen and to address the worsening humanitarian crisis.

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