News / Saudi Arabia / Yemen

Over 75 percent of Yemenis in need of aid: UN

Tuesday, 16 January 2018 11:08 AM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 16 January 2018 12:45 PM ]

A malnourished Yemeni child receives treatment at a hospital in the Yemeni port city of Hudaydah, December 19, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

The United Nations (UN) says the number of the Yemenis who are dependent on assistance has risen to 22.2 million, as the risk of famine increases three years into a Saudi Arabian-led war on impoverished Yemen.

The UN humanitarian affairs office, the OCHA, said on Tuesday that 8.4 million people — out of Yemen’s population of 29 million — were now at risk of famine, up from 6.8 million in 2017.

According to the OCHA, a total of 22.2 million people, or 76 percent of Yemen’s population, are dependent on some form of aid, an increase of 1.5 million people over the past six months.

The humanitarian crisis caused by the Saudi Arabian-led war on Yemen has been worsened by a crippling blockade enforced by the invading countries.

Saudi Arabia tightened that siege on November 6 after Yemeni fighters targeted an international airport near the Saudi capital of Riyadh with a cruise missile in retaliation for Saudi-led strikes.

More than 13,600 people have been killed since the onset of the Saudi-led war on Yemen in 2015. Much of the Arabian Peninsula country’s infrastructure, including hospitals, schools, and factories, has been reduced to rubble in military strikes.

The Saudi-led war has also triggered a deadly cholera epidemic across Yemen.

According to the World Health Organization’s latest count, the cholera outbreak has killed 2,167 people since the end of April and is suspected to have infected more than one million people.

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