Humanitarian partners work to mitigate the effects of Yemen’s increasing food and nutrition insecurity
A staggering 17.6 million people in Yemen are facing food insecurity across Yemen, 2.4 million children under 5 years are wasted and 1.2 million pregnant and breastfeeding women are acutely malnourished.
While essential food items remain available in Yemeni markets, food prices remain high and unaffordable for poor households. The Red Sea crisis is likely to intensify these challenges, posing the risk of a decline in fuel and food imports, further inflation and currency depreciation. The food currently available in markets is anticipated to last until the end of May, with food insecurity expected to worsen afterwards.
Worryingly, the upcoming period is Yemen’s lean season. The season historically runs from June to September and marks the peak of malnutrition and food insecurity in the country.
Despite the severity of the food and nutrition security situation, the response is grossly underfunded. Under the 2024 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP), the Food Security and Agriculture Cluster (FSAC) has received only nine and a half per cent of the required $1.4 billion, while the Nutrition Cluster has received 28 per cent of the required $193 million for the nutrition response.
In areas controlled by the de facto authorities (DFA), 13.2 million people are food insecure, including 4.7 million people who are experiencing emergency food insecurity.4 The pause to WFP’s humanitarian food assistance (HFA) distributions since November 2023 has exacerbated food insecurity there, especially for poor families who relied on it as their primary food source. Among the beneficiaries, between the end of 2023 and February 2024, the prevalence of poor food consumption increased from 23 per cent to 38 per cent, and the prevalence of inadequate food consumption increased from 58 per cent to 66 per cent. There is still a funding gap of $170 million for the resumption of HFA distributions. If the pause continues, the food security situation will likely deteriorate further.
The increasing food insecurity will reduce calorie and other nutrient intake for children and may increase malnutrition rates in Yemen, where child stunting rates are already some of the worst in the world: half (49 per cent) of all children under-five were moderately to severely stunted in 2023.5 Malnutrition can have several serious health consequences, including weakened immune systems, increased risk of infection, and stunted growth. The Nutrition Cluster anticipates a 20 per cent increase in wasted children requiring treatment.
Funding is urgently required. In the first quarter of 2024, FSAC partners and WFP supported 3.8 million of the planned 12.8 million people with assistance across Yemen. Limited availability of funding and resources may hinder the implementation of comprehensive assistance and mitigation programs in all targeted districts.
Immediate efforts to mitigate the effects of increasing food insecurity and malnutrition
UN agencies and partners are taking immediate action to mitigate the most severe impacts and protect the most vulnerable.
FSAC has identified 48 high-priority districts6 where rapid deterioration is observed, while 24 districts have been identified with critical needs for nutrition intervention in relation to food aid suspension. The food distribution gap in the 48 districts is 1.7 million people. FSAC partners aim to ensure immediate assistance is provided before the onset of the lean season through in-kind distributions, cash transfers and/or food vouchers, 5 Yemen Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) 2023. 6 Based on the latest analysis done by WFP Vulnerability, Analysis and Mapping (VAM) and the Integrated Famine Risk Reduction (IFRR). These hot-spot districts include a merging of the 34 districts identified by WFP VAM with the highest level of severity or deterioration in food insecurity (IPC phase four), and the 22 districts identified by IFRR where the highest food insecurity and malnutrition converge. paired with the provision of emergency livelihood support to the same locations. The activities will address the immediate food needs of the affected population while bolstering their resilience, providing respite for the most vulnerable families until WFP’s HFA restarts. This plan requires $80 million.
The Emergency Relief Coordinator has provided $7 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to WFP to kick-start the first cycle and catalyse additional funding. Nationwide, UNICEF has mobilized resources for ready-touse therapeutic foods (RUTF) (both in-kind and cash) worth $31.8 million and $43 million for all nutrition supplies. The Yemen Humanitarian Fund (YHF) will support mitigation against rising malnutrition rates by allocating $6 million for NGO operational costs to distribute nutrition supplies worth $20 million already available with UNICEF and WFP.
Call to action to prevent further deterioration
The UN and its partners call for urgent, flexible funding to scale-up and implement the response outlined in the mitigation plan. Required funding should be made available for the resumption of HFA. Flexible funding should be provided to FSAC and Nutrition partners to promote integrated programming for the prevention of a deteriorating food security and malnutrition situation as outlined in the 2024 Yemen Humanitarian Response Plan. This includes multi-year resilience and livelihood activities in the longer term to prevent a further decline in food security.
....................................................
4 2024 Humanitarian Needs Overview