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Aid getting through but millions still at risk – DEC warning

Countries
Yemen
Sources
DEC
Publication date

*- DEC member charities have reached eight million people with aid

  • Two thirds of population in ongoing need of emergency support*

Disasters Emergency Committee member charities and their partners have provided lifesaving aid to more than eight million* people in Yemen since the current phase of the conflict began in March 2015. Nearly half have received food or treatment for malnutrition.

Aid is getting through to all of Yemen’s 22 provinces despite insecurity and destroyed roads, but the scale of need is huge and ongoing, the DEC warned today. Two thirds of the population – around 18 million people – urgently need humanitarian support such as clean water, medical care and emergency shelter.

More than seven million people are going hungry and children are dying from malnutrition and preventable diseases. A worsening cholera outbreak in some parts of the country poses an additional threat to many communities.

The DEC’s Chief Executive Saleh Saeed said:

"Despite the difficulties working in Yemen, lifesaving aid is getting through to people in desperate need. But this crisis isn’t going away – seven million people face a daily struggle to find something to eat and almost half a million severely malnourished Yemeni children need immediate medical attention.

"People in Yemen, suffering from months of conflict and an unfolding food crisis, need our help now more than ever. We’re asking the UK public to dig deep and help us to provide food, water and medical care to help prevent this becoming a catastrophe.”

Clare Balding, Tom Hardy and Martin Clunes are fronting the television and radio appeals for donations to the DEC Yemen Crisis Appeal, which aired last night [Tuesday 13 December] across all major broadcasters.

People can donate by visiting www.dec.org.uk, calling the 24-hour hotline on 0370 60 60 900, donating over the counter at any high street bank or post office, or sending a cheque. You can also donate £5 by texting the word SUPPORT to 70000.

  • £25 could provide a month’s supply of life-saving peanut paste to a malnourished child
  • £60 could provide clean drinking water for two families for a month
  • £100 could provide supplies to a clinic treating severely malnourished children for a week

The UK Government will match donations from members of the UK public up to a total value of £5 million in match funding.

Examples of the DEC member charities’ activities include:
CARE has provided food to over 860,000 people in Amran and Abyan provinces and water, hygiene kits and cash to over 65,000 people in Hajja and Aden.

Islamic Relief has provided clean water to over 140,000 people, food supplements such as fortified peanut pastes to 40,000 malnourished children and pregnant or breastfeeding mothers, and medical supplies, including trauma kits, pain relief, oxygen tanks to hospitals in seven provinces.

Oxfam is distributing cash or vouchers to more than 125,000 people in Hodeida, Hajjah and Taiz so they can buy food or other essentials, trucking safe water to 435,500 people and providing latrines for 200,000 people, including families forced from their homes.

The Red Cross has repaired water points and distributed purification kits to provide 2.2m people with clean water and is supporting 52 hospitals, 16 health facilities and 19 primary health centres with medical and surgical supplies, as well as others with costs including solar power back-up.

Save the Children is supplying 60 fixed health facilities in five provinces with medical supplies benefitting over 380,000 people and has screened nearly 70,000 children for malnutrition and provided enriched food pastes to help children gain weight. It is also providing water and sanitation to two hospitals in Hodeida to help fight a cholera outbreak, benefitting more than 8,000 people.

Tearfund is supporting partners to train 400 First Responder volunteers across the country and helping collect rainwater to supply over 3,000 people in Hajjah with clean water to drink.

More DEC member charities - Age International, Christian Aid, CAFOD and Concern Worldwide - are part of the appeal and will support activities of partners already working in Yemen.

Stay up to date with developments in Yemen, the emergency response and the fundraising efforts with the DEC on twitter: www.twitter.com/decappeal; on Facebook via www.facebook.com/DisastersEmergencyCommittee or by following #YemenCrisis