Published: January 19, 2012
Full-Fledged Humanitarian Crisis Engulfs Yemen
By Mina Fabulous 
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP)today reported Yemen is in the midst of an "increasingly complex, full-fledged humanitarian crisis.
It is estimated that the recent political turmoil in Yemen last year, part of a wave of protests across the Middle East and North Africa calling for social, economic and democratic reforms, has led to more than 82 deaths and hundreds of injuries.
To address the humanitarian needs of the Yemenis, the World Food Programm is set to scale up its assistance in response to the growing needs in Yemen.
Young girls of Yemen in 1986. Photo: Wikimedia Commons |
The WFP also cited that humanitarian crisis was caused civil unrest, soaring food and fuel prices and a breakdown in social services.
WFP is preparing to feed 3.5 million vulnerable people in Yemen in 2012. This includes people who have been pushed into hunger in the wake of sharp hikes in food prices and displacement in the northern and the southern regions of the country.
The agency is especially prioritizing 1.8 million severely food insecure Yemenis living in the poorest 14 governorates. The estimated total cost of the food assistance is $207 million.
WFP's efforts in the country have received a boost with a $31 million contribution from Germany, during what the agency's representative there, Lubna Alaman, described as an "increasingly dire" situation.
The contribution is the largest donation that WFP has ever received from Germany for Yemen in one year and one of the highest ever worldwide.
"This remarkable contribution was perfectly timed as we are embarking on the scaling up of our assistance in response to the growing needs of Yemen." -Ms. Alaman
The German contribution will enable WFP to distribute more than 20,000 metric tons of food commodities such as fortified wheat flour, oil, and specialized nutritional products for severely malnourished children. The contribution will also support WFP's Food for Girls' Education programme which provides take-home food rations as an incentive for families to keep girls in schools.
The uprising in Yemen is part of a wider pro-democracy movement across the region, dubbed the "Arab Spring," that began at the start of this year and has already toppled long-standing regimes in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.
Mina Fabulous follows the news, especially what is going on in the US State Department. Mina turns State Department waffle into plain english. Contact Mina through NewsBlaze.
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