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Yemen + 1 more

Emergency Relief Coordinator’s key messages on Yemen - 29 September 2011 · Issue number 3

Attachments

I. Key Messages

  1. A complex mix of conflict, poverty, drought, and a breakdown in state services has led to a worrying increase in humanitarian needs for people across Yemen – including for 100,000 people displaced by recent fighting, refugees from the Horn of Africa, and 300,000 people who remain displaced from previous crises.

  2. Drought and soaring food and fuel prices have led to alarming levels of malnutrition. Global Acute Malnutrition among children under 5 years old has reached 30 per cent in some areas - approaching the levels we are seeing in Somalia. Children have been particularly hard hit by this crisis.

  3. Weakening state authority has led to a breakdown in social services and healthcare in some areas. Many hospitals and clinics are either overcrowded or not functioning. Access to safe water is becoming increasingly difficult, increasing the risk of disease.

  4. More than 100,000 people have been displaced by fighting in the south, and will find it difficult to return home in the foreseeable future. Many of the displaced have taken refuge in schools in Aden, preventing children from going back to school. They need alternative accommodation.

  5. Insecurity is placing serious constraints on our ability to help; the UN has temporarily reduced the number of international staff in Yemen. Despite the volatility of the situation, however, the UN and its partners will continue to deliver assistance to the maximum extent possible.
    Humanitarian organizations must be granted safe and unimpeded access to do their work.

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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
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