You are here:
  • Home
  • News
  • New British drive to help tackle crisis in Yemen

New British drive to help tackle crisis in Yemen

01 July 2011

New emergency humanitarian support will help to tackle rapidly worsening conditions in Yemen, International Development Minister of State Alan Duncan announced today.

Recent fighting has displaced over 40,000 people across Yemen. British funding will help the International Committee of the Red Cross reach 100,000 people in conflict affected areas across the country, as well as ensuring it has staff, equipment and supplies in place to treat civilians injured in the ongoing civil unrest.

In addition, British support for a consortium of five of the main international NGOs working in Yemen will enable them to pool resources and expertise to help meet urgent needs in areas that can prove difficult for humanitarian agencies to access, such as Amran and Al-Jawf in the North of the country.

This new British emergency support will reach a total over 300,000 people and will help to:

  • Improve primary healthcare for 91,100 people to reduce disease and save lives
  • Provide access to drinking water, shelter and sanitation for 71,000 people
  • Educate 30,000 children on how to avoid unexploded landmines
  • Provide 6,900 people a month with food and hygiene kits
  • Provide livestock and training for 5,850 people

Minister of State for International Development Alan Duncan said:

"Conditions across Yemen are deteriorating daily. By current estimates, the average Yemeni is now spending as much as 35 per cent of their income on bread. Fuel shortages are creating untold problems. Petrol is needed to power water pumps, to fuel the trucks that deliver it, and to generate the electricity for fridges to keep children’s vaccinations properly stored.

"In the short term, this new package of British aid funding is aimed at providing immediate help to people across the country affected by years of instability and poverty and whose suffering is only exacerbated by the current civil unrest. Our ultimate aim must be to head off the humanitarian crisis that is looming large on the horizon."

For more information, please contact Chris Kiggell by email: c-kiggell@dfid.gov.uk or tel: 020 7023 0504 / 0600

Notes to editors

  • Funding for ICRC (£4.5 million) is in support of the 2011 ICRC Appeal. ICRC operations will help meet basic humanitarian needs in food, water, healthcare and sanitation for people affected by conflict. ICRC is also working in response to the recent unrest across Yemen.
  • The International NGO Consortium comprises Oxfam, CARE, Save the Children, Islamic Relief and ADRA. Support to the INGO Consortium (£3.4 million) will focus on areas with the greatest humanitarian needs across five governorates in the North of Yemen. Projects will help meet basic humanitarian needs in water and sanitation, child protection, education and health.
  • The INGO Consortium was set up with British funding and brings together NGOs with over 80 years of collective experience in Yemen. The consortium allows the five member NGOs to pool their expertise and resources in addressing humanitarian needs, while reducing the costs of dealing with five separate organisations.
  • On 17 May 2011, DFID announced £7.5 million of support for the United Nations humanitarian country appeal, also known as the Yemen Humanitarian Response Plan (YHRP). This included new funding to UNICEF to stop 11,000 under five year olds dying from malnutrition and help to treat 36,000 more malnourished children, as well as providing vaccinations and improved education for children. In addition, the UN’s Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) received funding to prepare for the possibility of a rapid worsening of the situation as a result of the current civil unrest.
  • Last year DFID provided £7.5 million worth of humanitarian assistance to Internally Displaced Persons and host communities in the conflict-affected Northern Governorates and flood-affected communities of Hadramout.
  • Years of fighting in Yemen have left areas of the North devastated. Over 300,000 Internally Displaced Persons live in camps and host communities.
  • Current political instability and an escalating economic crisis threaten worsening conditions across the country. Recent outbreaks of fighting in the South have displaced around 40,000 people from the area around Zinjibar.

Bookmark with:

What are Bookmarks?

Related links