Yemen Humanitarian Crisis
What is happening in Yemen?
Eight years of ongoing conflict in Yemen have created a sustained economic crisis and severely damaged the country’s water infrastructure and public health system. Yemen’s most impoverished people, largely women, children, and elderly, are the most severely affected. Many of them have been displaced from their homes by conflict more than once.
The conflict that erupted in March 2015 has killed more than 19,000 civilians, forced in excess of 4.5 million to flee their homes, and has left the country in a dire hunger crisis. More than 21.6 million people — two thirds of the population — need humanitarian assistance and protection. Lack of access to clean water and decent sanitation has created a severe risk of cholera, which has affected millions of people. Overall, 3.5 million people in Yemen are acutely malnourished and 17.3 million people are suffering from hunger. The high price of fuel in Yemen is also partly responsible for rising prices for nearly everything, including food. The conflict in Ukraine is making the crisis even worse: Yemen imports 90 percent of its food; 42 percent of its wheat came from from Ukraine before the conflict started there.
International Association of World Peace Advocates solutions to help people in Yemen?
International Association of World Peace Advocates is helping people in Yemen displaced by conflict to survive the current crisis, while also providing training, cash, and other assistance for people starting businesses so that in the long term they can support themselves. We also work with organizations that advocate for the rights of women and girls.
1. Giving cash to help people meet basic needs and build more resilient communities
To respond to the ongoing food crisis, International Association of World Peace Advocates provides the most vulnerable people with cash to cover their basic food needs. We also run cash-for-work projects that pay people for rehabilitating essential infrastructure such as roads and water systems. We reach around 380,000 people each year with these kinds of projects, across nine governorates in both the south and the north of the country.
2.Promoting public health
International Association of World Peace Advocates recruits and trains hundreds of community health volunteers who promote good hygiene in communities affected by conflict. They help people understand how to reduce the risk of cholera and other water-borne diseases, and COVID-19. We also distribute water filters, hygiene kits, and personal protective equipment, ensuring that the most vulnerable people—including women-headed households, people living with disabilities, and elderly people—can access these resources. In 2019-2022, International Association of World Peace Advocates helped 725,526 people with water, proper sanitation systems, soap, and hygiene promotion.
3.Providing clean water and resources to improve sanitation and hygiene
We have provided clean water and sanitation to more than one million people, including in hard-to-reach areas of the country, through delivering water by truck, repairing water systems, delivering filters and jerry cans, as well as building latrines and organizing cleaning campaigns. International Association of World Peace Advocates is constructing and rehabilitating water systems using solar panels to power water pumps. And we pay local people to collect and dispose of solid waste.
