The world only has 3 or 4 months to save millions of people in Yemen from death by starvation, the International Committee of the Red Cross annouced this week.
Yemen is one of the poorest countries in the Middle East. There are 27 million people living there.
These are the facts and figures from the last Oxfam report about Yemen.
- Half of the people from Yemen do not have enough to eat. That is 14.4 million people, including 320.000 children who are severely malnourished.
- No less than 13 million people are in direct need of life-saving humanitarian aid (82% of the population).
- More than 13 million people need direct life-saving humanitarian aid, due to a lack of medicine and food.
- More than 19 million people have no access to clean drinking water or a toilet.
- More than 14 million people have no access to medical care.More than 3 million people have fled from their homes, including 160.000 who have fled the country.
For food, Yemen is for the most part reliant on imports, but due to the on-going fighting between rebels and the government army it is difficult to reach the country. Due to year-long conflicts the country has largly been destroyed. Since 2015 there has been a civil war raging there. In that year Shiite Houthi rebels drove out the Sunni government troops. Since that time they have had control of large portions of the northern part of Yemen. The government in Yemen receives the support of a coalition under the leadership of neighboring country Saudi-Arabië.
There is much needed in the area: from drinking water to medical care. And because it is now winter there, warm clothing, blankets and heaters are also greatly needed.