Approximately five million people in Yemen, representing 47% of the population, are experiencing acute food insecurity at crisis or worse levels (IPC Phase 3 and above). Additionally, 1.4 million individuals are trapped in an “emergency” phase, with this number expected to rise as the year progresses.
Families are being pushed beyond their capacity to cope with the combined effects of economic collapse, climate shocks, disrupted livelihoods, and diminishing humanitarian assistance, according to a joint statement from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Food Programme (WFP), and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
Hunger Expected to Worsen
The lean season between June and September is projected to increase the number of people facing emergency conditions to 1.5 million. No significant recovery is anticipated in the post-harvest period from October to December 2026, with the number of people in the emergency phase (IPC Phase 4) expected to climb to 1.8 million.
Following over a decade of conflict between Houthi rebels and the internationally recognized government, food insecurity remains a significant driver of the high burden of malnutrition in Yemen. Reduced dietary diversity, insufficient household food consumption, limited access to essential preventive nutrition services, and deteriorating living conditions increase the risk of acute malnutrition, particularly among pregnant and breastfeeding women and young children.
Economic Decline and Aid Cuts
Irregular salaries, high food and fuel prices, dwindling income opportunities, and constraints on agricultural production are limiting families’ ability to meet even their most basic food needs. Despite approximately 60% of Yemeni households relying at least partially on agriculture, harvests are under increasing pressure due to extreme weather, pest outbreaks, and disrupted supply chains. Concurrently, a sharp decline in humanitarian food assistance and interventions in nutrition, health, and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) sectors is expected due to critical funding shortfalls, meaning support is disappearing when it is most needed.
A young child undergoes malnutrition screening at a clinic in Yemen.
Mobile Teams Reach Remote Areas
Against this backdrop, the World Health Organization (WHO), in coordination with local partners in Aden and Marib, is delivering health services directly to internally displaced camp residents to address rising malaria risks. In the Al-Shaab camp in Aden, health issues are a part of daily life for many displaced families living in challenging conditions. Overcrowding, poor environmental conditions, and limited access to services increase the risk of malaria and other vector-borne diseases, especially for women and children.
Abeer Abdulwarith Mohammed Saeed, 21, is familiar with these challenges. “Sometimes at night, a child suddenly develops a fever, diarrhea, or vomiting, and we have no emergency service,” she said. “If I, my husband, or my children get sick, we cannot get treatment due to our limited resources.”
“We Are Healthy”
The teams are implementing a strategy with mobile clinics moving between camps to detect and diagnose cases early, particularly in areas far from health services. For Saeed and her family, the mobile team’s visit provided reassurance. “The medical team today helped me and my children with malaria and dengue fever tests,” she said. “We waited for the results, and thank God, there was no malaria. We are healthy.”
Urgent Funding Needed
Key UN aid agencies involved are urging the international community to urgently increase funding for humanitarian food assistance, nutrition services, health, agriculture, and resilience programming. Without immediate, sustained, and scaled-up action, millions more vulnerable people will face deeper hunger, malnutrition, and irreversible loss of livelihoods.
