Statement by WFP Executive Director on Qatari Funding for Humanitarian Operations in Yemen

July 22, 2021

Abdullatif, 35, lives in Maghrabah district in Hajjah governorate. Marghrabah is one of 11 districts in Yemen with IPC5/famine-like conditions. He has 5 children. Abdullatif receives monthly food assistance from WFP – a food basket of staples including flour, pulses, oil, sugar and salt. That is the only food they have. Abdullatif has resorted to eating leaves from a tree called Halas to feed his family. They boil the leaves to soften them and make the more digestible. "Sometimes I feel like I'm going to die without food. Sometimes we get a little food from the neighbours, but there are nights when we starve. All of us" “Hunger does not show mercy to anyone. If it comes, it will kill you and your children. That is how I always imagine it: as a killer. Like a ghost.” "I fear for my children. They are a part of me.” WFP supports nearly 2500 household including Abdullatif’s family in Maghrabah district - where there are pockets of famine-like conditions - with emergency food assistance of flour, pulses, vegetable oil, sugar and salt. Nearly 50,000 people in Yemen are living in famine-like conditions and 5 million people are in immediate danger. A child in Yemen dies every 10 minutes of preventable diseases such as diarrhoea, malnutrition, and respiratory tract infections. Responding to these acute needs, WFP provides food assistance to nearly 13 million people, prioritising areas with the highest rates of food insecurity. In February, WFP resumed monthly distributions to 350,000 people in 11 districts facing famine-like conditions (IPC5), including Maghrabah, after the agency had been forced to halve rations due to funding shortfalls.

WASHINGTON – I am deeply heartened by the announcement from Qatar that it will contribute $100 million to humanitarian operations in Yemen, where conflict, COVID and economic decline are driving a grinding hunger crisis which is in danger of slipping into famine without adequate funding. This contribution reinforces the opportunity for regional peace and security.

Qatar’s support, part of which will go to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), is critical for staving off famine in Yemen and will save millions of lives. I am very encouraged by this latest development in Qatar’s partnership with the U.N. World Food Programme and my sincere thanks go to the government and people of Qatar for this much-needed expression of solidarity.

Right now, two-thirds of Yemen’s population – some 20 million people – need humanitarian assistance with five million at immediate risk of famine. Acute malnutrition is eating away the futures of 2.3 million children and 400,000 are at risk of dying if left without treatment

The international community must not wait for a famine classification in Yemen to act, as Qatar is doing now joining other donors who have generously stepped up to support the U.N. World Food Programme’s operation in the war-torn country. People do not start dying when a declaration of famine is made. It is their deaths that trigger a declaration.

The U.N. World Food Programme supports 12.9 million in Yemen with emergency food assistance and provides special foods to treat and prevent malnutrition to 3.3 million children and mothers. To prevent famine in Yemen, the U.N. World Food Programme needs at least $1.9 billion in 2021. Not including Qatar, donors have stepped up with just over $1 billion so far this year.

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The United Nations World Food Programme is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. We are the world’s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.

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Statement by WFP Executive Director on Qatari Funding for Humanitarian Operations in Yemen

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