Attachments
HIGHLIGHTS
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In 2023, UNICEF vaccinated 1,154,919 children between 6 months and 10 years with measles rubella (MR) vaccine.
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UNICEF screened 2,322,268 boys and 2,357,589 girls under five for malnutrition.
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UNICEF reached 2,030,283 million people, including over 1.1 million children, across Yemen with provision of safe drinking water.
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To enable students to continue their education and reduce the economic burden on their families, UNICEF distributed learning material kits that benefited 1,233,177 children across the country.
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A total of 845,094 people, including 567,220 children received critical explosive ordnance risk education (EORE).
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UNICEF, along with UNFPA and WFP, provided Rapid Response Mechanism (RRM) kits to a total of 313,056 newly displaced people.
SITUATION OVERVIEW AND HUMANITARIAN NEEDS
In its ninth year of conflict, the national socioeconomic systems of Yemen remain on the edge of collapse. In 2023, more than 21.6 million people, including 11.1 million children, required humanitarian assistance and protection3 and 4.5 million people were estimated to be internally displaced. Despite truce-like conditions, which have reduced civilian casualty numbers significantly, intermittent fighting and exchanges of fire continue in many areas. While the high levels of humanitarian response to-date have been extremely effective in protecting millions of children, the lack of a comprehensive political resolution to the country's conflict, amid deteriorating economic situation, means that the needs of children and their families continue to increase.
In 2023, the protracted conflict in Yemen, climate change-induced natural disasters such as cyclones, floods, and heavy rains, forced 319,445 people to flee their homes, many of whom were already displaced multiple times or living in rural communities. In October 2023, a tropical cyclone stuck the eastern coast of Yemen, affecting over 10,000 households in Al Mahrah, Hadramawt and Socotra, and destroying, damaging, or flooding homes and sites for internally displaced persons (IDPs).
Yemen faced a significant drop in immunization rates among children. In 2022, 123,500 more children received their first dose of penta compared to 2023. Lack of immunization has left millions of children without routine immunization, leading to a resurgence and rise in vaccine-preventable diseases and associated deaths among children. Over 53,000 suspected cases and 2,347 confirmed cases of measles were reported across Yemen in 2023. Furthermore, there were 1,978 suspected cases of diphtheria. The circulation of polio virus type 2 continued, with an additional three confirmed cases in 2023, bringing the total number of confirmed polio cases to 239 since the beginning of outbreak in November 2021. The suspension of the integrated outreach programme in the northern governorates, where over 65 per cent of the population of Yemen lives, presented a significant challenge in responding to these outbreaks. Yemen also witnessed an outbreak level increase in AWD/cholera cases since November 2023, with 8,425 AWD/suspected cholera recorded in 2023 in Yemen.
The ongoing fragility of Yemen’s economy in 2023 – manifesting in the depreciation of its currency, macroeconomic instability, diminishing purchasing power and the de facto bifurcation of economic institutions by competing factions – heightened the vulnerability of poor families and communities, and around 17.3 million people experienced high level of food insecurity in 2023.
Access to water and safe WASH services lacked for 15.3 million people, including 7.8 million children. The protracted humanitarian crisis in Yemen has increased the vulnerability of children and women to exploitation, violence, and abuse. Negative coping mechanisms are on the rise, including increased gender-based violence, sexual exploitation, child marriage, child labour, military recruitment of children and interruption of education. Nine million children required child protection services . 8.6 million children, including 2.7 million out-of-school children, required educational assistance (e.g., reintegration into formal education), due to conflict related damage and disruption to education facilities and services.
As a result of the widespread poverty in Yemen and large disparities, the demand grew for integrated social protection aimed at supporting poor families to overcome vulnerability and enhance their access to services.