What started as mass-protests against high fuel prices in 2015 is today the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. Six years of brutal conflict—made worse by pre-existing humanitarian needs caused by devastating flooding in 2010, as well as extreme poverty—has decimated Yemen and its people. More than 24 million men, women and children—80 percent of the population—relies on humanitarian aid to survive, while 18 million people don’t have access to clean water and malnutrition rates are among the highest in the world.
The situation is particularly difficult for the country’s 3.6 million internally displaced persons (IDPs). The family profiled below, like many other IDPs, had to flee their home because of conflict, settling in Lahij, a province in southwestern Yemen. In January, our Mobile Medical and Nutrition Team visited the family, following up on a report from one of International Medical Corps’ community health volunteers about a sick child. Their story is below.
This, and other assistance we provide in Yemen, is made possible thanks to generous funding from the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO).
