Yemen Is Reaching Famine Like Conditions With COVID 19
The threat posed by the coronavirus isn’t enough to keep people in Yemen from social distancing at all times. That’s because every day is a struggle to get food and water.
More than 20 million people in the country, roughly 80% of its population, have a hard time getting enough food and water to survive, while 40% of the population could face an acute food crisis by the end of the year, exposing them to the dire complications of malnutrition, according to the humanitarian non-profit CARE.
The years-long war engulfing Yemen had already created the worst humanitarian crisis in the world before the COVID-19 pandemic arrived. Now, Yemen has a higher death rate from COVID-19 than the rest of the world because of a lack of health care facilities, workers, and supplies. This vicious cycle of the pandemic exacerbating existing humanitarian problems could intensify in the months ahead.
“We’re talking about a population that has had to endure six years of constant war, fighting and air strikes, and displacement,” Aaron Brent, CARE’s country director for Yemen, told Global Citizen. “The resulting food insecurity situation is reaching famine-like conditions. Added onto that, there’s a completely destroyed economy and disease outbreaks. COVID is coming on top of all these things. It’s another threat that the Yemeni people face.”
Yemen is an arid, mountainous country that has always been a net-importer of food, Brent said. Once the civil war began escalating in 2014, food production within the country further plunged and importing food became harder.
As a result, hunger rates immediately skyrocketed.
The situation has deteriorated every year since as bombs from a coalition led by Saudi Arabia destroy more roads, bridges, ports, hospitals, schools, water wells, and more.
