Yemen Crisis

What is the Yemen Crisis?

An estimated 2.3 million children under the age of 5 are currently suffering from acute malnutrition in Yemen. 400,000 of these children are suffering from severe acute malnutrition, and could tragically die if they do not receive urgent treatment. With COVID-19 already spreading rapidly in the country, Yemen is trying to grapple with widespread food shortages whilst fighting the devastating pandemic.

More than five years of conflict has deepened Yemen’s poverty, devastated its infrastructure, and caused widespread hunger and suffering. The Yemen crisis is getting worse, day by day.

Your donations can help Islamic Relief teams in Yemen deliver urgently needed food, medicines and medical supplies. Donate Now and help save lives in Yemen.

Humanitarian tragedy

Would you buy medicine for your little girl and go without food tomorrow? Would you beg for people’s leftovers if you didn’t know when you’d eat again? Would you let your little boy miss school so he could find food for his family? This is not a choice, this is a tragedy. But it’s also a brutal reality for families in Yemen right now.

24 million people are in need of humanitarian aid

With the ongoing conflict in Yemen – already one of the poorest countries in the region – tens of thousands of lives have been lost and over 20 million people don’t know where their next meal will come from. A country crippled by conflict is sadly now on the brink of famine.

With families facing ongoing armed conflict, displacement, disease and economic decline, an estimated 24 million people are now in need of humanitarian aid to survive – a figure so high that it is in fact the highest across the globe.

Yemen now officially hosts the world’s largest human-induced food security crisis.

Families and communities have been torn apart and left without even the most basic of living essentials:

• 19.7 million people need basic healthcare
• Almost 18 million people are in need of water and sanitation facilities
• Over 3 million people have been left displaced by conflict

On the ground in Yemen, the situation is dire and things are getting worse each and every day.

On the ground: A country on the edge of famine

Islamic Relief is on the ground in 17 of the country’s 22 governorates, providing essential food aid to families at risk of famine and facing extensive food insecurity.

With your support we can help these communities in their hour of need.

Sami Jassar, who works for Islamic Relief in Yemen, explains:

“Since March 2015 the situation has got worse… essential goods, such as food, have more than doubled in price…”

For men, women and children across the country, finding their next meal is a growing challenge.

Islamic Relief has provided food to over 2.5 million people – Help us continue our work

Through our emergency appeal, we’re working to save lives across Yemen. Islamic Relief is distributing food across a wide area and providing food to more than 2.5 million people. We’ve also equipped 21 hospitals and clinics across the country to support doctors and nurses working to treat wounded, sick and malnourished people. We have also been working to support children through child protection and psycho-social support activities.

In light of the impending famine, we’re continuing to distribute food packs and essential food vouchers to provide critical aid to families in need. However, we need your help to reach as many people as possible and widen our response.

* Due to ongoing conflict, blockades and delays in food imports, the food prices in Yemen constantly fluctuate. At times food prices have more than doubled during the ongoing conflict which began in March 2015. Islamic Relief Yemen continues to provide life-saving aid to those most in need through its partnership work with international organisations such as the World Food Programme. We will regularly update price handles to reflect the current situation on the ground.