UN warns Yemen will ‘‘fall off the cliff’’
The UN humanitarian chief warned that without massive financial support, Yemen will ‘‘fall off the cliff,’’ with many more people starving to death, succumbing to Covid-19, dying of cholera and watching their children die because they haven’t been immunized for killer dis- eases.
Mark Lowcock told a closed Security Council meeting yesterday that Covid-19 is spreading rapidly across Yemen and about 25 per cent of the country’s confirmed cases have died — ‘‘five times the global average’’.
‘‘With the health system in collapse, we know many cases and deaths are going unrecorded,’’ he said. ‘‘Burial prices in some areas have increased by seven times compared to a few months ago.’’
Lowcock said the coronavirus ‘‘is adding one more layer of misery upon many others’’ including ‘‘appalling multi-casualty incidents’’ and the country’s economy, which is ‘‘heading for an unprecedented calamity’’.
He pointed to the rapid depreciation of the Yemeni currency, the rial, a 10 per cent to 20 per cent rise in food prices in just two weeks, and the best available data indicate remittances may have already fallen between 50 per cent and 70 per cent.
A virtual pledging conference for Yemen hosted by the UN and Saudi Arabia on June 2 saw 31 donors pledge $1.35 billion for humanitarian aid, including about $700 million in new funds, Lowcock said.
‘‘That’s only about half of what was pledged last year,’’ he said, and far below what’s needed to keep humanitarian programs going. Reduced pledges from the Gulf region account for essentially all of the reduction.’’
‘‘Water and sanitation programs that serve 4 million people will start closing in several weeks. About 5 million children will go without routine vaccinations, and by August, we will close down malnutrition programs.’’
A wider health program that helps 19 million people will stop. ‘‘We have never before seen in Yemen a situation where such a severe acute domestic economic crisis overlaps with a sharp drop in remittances and major cuts to donor support for humanitarian aid — and this of course is all happening in the middle of a devastating pandemic,’’ Lowcock said.