UN Agencies Call for Urgent Assistance to Prevent Famine in Yemen

Severe food insecurity threatens more than 17 million people in conflict-ridden Yemen, according to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis released by the United Nations and humanitarian partners.
Twenty of the country's 22 governorates are in emergency or crisis food insecurity phases and almost two-thirds of the population are now facing hunger and urgently require life and livelihood-saving assistance. Without additional humanitarian and livelihoods support, Taiz and Al Hudaydah, two governorates accounting for almost a quarter of Yemen's population, risk slipping into famine.
With an estimated 17 million people at 'emergency' or 'crisis' levels of food insecurity, Yemen is currently one of the worst hunger crises in the world. These numbers represent a 21% increase since June 2016 and underscores the findings of the February 2017 Emergency Food Security and Nutrition Assessment.
The conflict has had a devastating impact on food security and livelihoods. Almost 80% of households in Yemen report having a worse economic situation than before the crisis. The decrease in domestic production, disruption of commercial and humanitarian imports, increasing food and fuel prices, rampant unemployment, loss of income, relatively low levels of funding for UN agencies providing food assistance and the collapse of public services and social safety nets are all factors contributing to a worsening food security situation.
Taiz and Al Hudaydah, traditionally food producing governorates, have been the focus of intense violence in the two years since the current crisis escalated. These two governorates have the highest rates of global acute malnutrition in the country, ranging from 17% in Taiz City to 25% in Al Hudaydah. The emergency threshold set by the World Health Organization is 15%. 
Fighting along the Red Sea coast in recent months has caused extensive damage to Yemen's largest port, Al Hudaydah. This has disrupted imports, which account for 90% of Yemen's staple foods. Access restrictions and the loss of boats, nets and other gear, have wiped out fishing - an important source of food and income.
Insecurity along the coast will likely affect the start of the planting season for sorghum in April - the most important domestically produced cereal. Moreover it will hamper trade, force more people to leave their homes, further limit the availability of food and disrupt livelihoods.
Across Yemen as many as 2 million households engaged in agriculture now lack access to critical agricultural inputs, including seeds, fertiliser and fuel for irrigation pumps. High fuel prices also make irrigation prohibitively expensive. Because of insecurity, humanitarian access may be soon limited to a few kilometres around main towns, leaving rural communities in dire need of aid.
The United Nations in Yemen reiterates its appeal for all parties to the conflict to facilitate unconditional and sustained access so humanitarian organizations can scale up their assistance to meet the growing demands of people in the most acute need.

Source: QNA