The Director of Operations and Advocacy at the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Edem and Surno, warned of the risk of unraveling the positive progress seen since the April 2022 UN-brokered truce in Yemen.

Edem and Surno said, in a briefing to the UN Security Council, that “levels of food insecurity and malnutrition have risen in recent months, posing a real and growing threat to the lives and well-being of millions of people in Yemen, especially women and children.”

She added that the number of people receiving aid and the size of food rations in government-controlled areas had to be reduced.

She continued that the World Food Program suspended the distribution of general food aid in Houthi-controlled areas in November, while it continued its discussions with the de facto Houthi authorities regarding who should be given priority for assistance.

Based on the success of this pilot project and subject to the availability of funds, larger food distribution will resume. As a result, Edem and Surno said 9.5 million people who have not received assistance since November have been reached.

The UN official urged donors to increase this urgently needed funding. She said that for most Yemenis, food insecurity is an issue of affordability of food, not access to it.

She added: “As people in Yemen told me very clearly when I visited Aden, Sana’a and Amran governorates last week – they want sustainable solutions to the causes of their humanitarian needs, and an opportunity to determine for themselves how to rebuild their future.”

The UN official appealed to donors to provide the urgent financial support necessary to address food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs, as well as to support livelihoods. This remains a lifeline for the people of Yemen.

Recent assessments by UNICEF and the World Food Program showed an 11 percent increase in food insecurity since November last year – the highest levels in 16 months in Houthi-controlled areas.

Nearly half of children under the age of five suffer from moderate to severe stunting – an increase of 4 percentage points compared to 2022 and more than double the global prevalence of stunting. More than half of the families included in the study reported that food consumption levels were insufficient.