The United Nations World Food Programme is scaling up its humanitarian response in Yemen as renewed fighting and recent Houthi advances displace large numbers of people and deepen food-security concerns, Reuters reported on September 21.
Acting WFP Executive Director Carl Skau told Reuters that the agency had supported around 60,000 people with hot meals and food commodities and was building supplies to respond to hundreds of thousands more.
According to WFP data cited by Reuters, more than 18 million people in Yemen — roughly half the population — face acute food insecurity, while about 2.2 million children under five are acutely malnourished. More than 120,000 Yemenis have recently fled their homes inside the country, with thousands more crossing by boat toward Africa.
Skau said displacement camps were already overstretched and that WFP operations were underfunded. He also said the agency remains unable to operate normally in Houthi-controlled areas because its offices have been occupied and assets confiscated.
The figures describe a rapidly worsening humanitarian situation, but aid delivery will depend on funding, access and the course of the fighting.