UN humanitarian chief: 8.4 million Yemenis need urgent help
UN humanitarian chief: 8.4 million Yemenis need urgent help
UNITED NATIONS - The humanitarian chief of the United States says the conflict in Yemen has left 8.4 million people dependent on emergency food aid and 75 percent of its 22 million people requiring some kind of help.
Mark Lowcock warns in an analysis that The Associated Press obtained on Monday night that humanitarian officials "estimate that between 3.5 and 4 million more people could suffer serious food insecurity in the coming months."
The analysis, which will be the subject of an information session for the Security Council on Tuesday, says that 3 million Yemenis are malnourished, including 1.1 million pregnant women "and more than 400,000 severely malnourished children."
In the worst case, Lowcock warns that if current trends continue, food needs could increase "by up to 62 percent."
The conflict in Yemen, the poorest country in the Arab world, began with the capture of the capital in 2014, Sanaa, by the Shiite Houthi rebels, who overthrew the internationally recognized government. A coalition led by Saudi Arabia allied with the government has been fighting the Houthis since 2015.
Civilians have been the most affected by the conflict, which has killed more than 10,000 people and provoked an epidemic of cholera and a humanitarian crisis.
At the beginning of 2017, the U.N. and its partners were able to help 3 million hungry Yemenis. But since then, assistance has increased, reaching 8 million people last month thanks to generous donor funding, Lowcock said. But now more funding is needed to meet the "projected increases in needs."
He also urged combatants to allow easier access for relief operations and an expansion of commercial imports.
Lowcock warned the council on September 21 that the fight against hunger was being lost and said the situation had deteriorated "in an alarming way" in the previous weeks.
"We may now be nearing a turning point, beyond which it will be impossible to avoid the massive loss of lives as a result of widespread famine across the country," he said. "We are already seeing pockets of conditions similar to famine, including cases where people are eating leaves."
Lowcock's new analysis was sent to the council to comply with a Security Council resolution adopted in May calling for a quick report on "the risk of famine caused by the conflict and widespread food insecurity."
He said that an important factor related to the conflict affecting food availability is the loss of household income, citing World Bank estimates that Yemen's economy has contracted 50 percent since the beginning of the conflict, with the fewer 600,000 jobs lost, mainly in agriculture and service. sector.
Another important factor, said Lowcock, is the depreciation of Yemen's currency, the rial, which has lost 47 percent of its value against the US dollar in the last year, including 20 percent since September.
"In the last six weeks, the price of the basic food basket has increased by 25 percent and now it is more than double the levels before the crisis," he said. "The monetary crisis has also caused the price of fuel to rise by 45 percent," which is affecting transport, water, electricity, health and sanitation services.
Lowcock said that approximately 80 percent of the food and other commodities for the north controlled by Houthi enter Yemen through the ports of Hodeida and Salif. But while imports have increased substantially since the Saudi-led coalition lifted a blockade in late 2017, it said monthly volumes are 16 to 20 percent lower than pre-crisis levels.
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)
{if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?
n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};
if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';
n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;
t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script',
'https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js');
fbq('init', '369524843414444');
fbq('track', 'PageView');
.
SOURCE LINK ERESVIRAL.COM https://www.beviral.online
Comentarios
Publicar un comentario