There is an urgent crisis in Yemen at the moment. There is no point in sugarcoating it or downplaying it. People are losing their lives to starvation and unprovoked violence and if something is not done soon enough there will be no way to repair the damage already done.
In 2011 president Ali Abdullah Saleh handed over power to his deputy Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi. This was done in efforts to regain stability to Yemen, a country that was already suffering economically and socially. This change of power was not a welcomed change. In the first few months of his presidency, Mr. Hadi was faced with terror attacks, corruption, mass unemployment and the UN High commissioner for refugees also reported that there were over 200,000 new arrivals in 2011 spanning from Somalia to Ethiopia.
President Hadi was taking blows from all sides, Houthi Shia Muslim rebels were conscious of this. They took advantage of this by taking over Northern Saada Province in 2014. Many muddled Yemenis followed and supported the rebels, eventually helping them gain power over the capital Sanaa and exiling President Hadi in 2015
At this stage, there was a need for intervention by outside states. Saudia Arabia along with the other Sunni Arab States led strikes on the Houthi rebels backed by the UK, US, and France in attempts to help Hadi regain power. What was initially supposed to be a few months work has turned into a 4-year stalemate.
ACLED recent report stated that the death toll has risen to over 70,000 people and 7,600 in 2019 so far. There have also been 3,155 direct attacks on civilians but the most worrying statistic is that children have accounted for over 400 deaths and 500 injuries.
Since this war has started the healthcare system in Yemen has drastically deteriorated. There has been an outbreak of Cholera infecting millions. More than 80% of Yemenis lack access to medical care. Things are truly getting out of hand as a result of this war. A troubling statistic released by Unicef stated that one woman and six newborns die every two hours in Yemen from complications during pregnancy or childbirth due to little or no resources to assist childbirth.
It is clear that there are urgent humanitarian needs in Yemen. The UN negotiated a ceasefire between the Saudis and Houthi admin to allow aid to enter the country but that is potentially on the brink as there reports that it is about to come to an end. According to the World Food Programme (WFP), nearly 3 million children and pregnant or nursing women are acutely malnourished. 15.9 million people wake up every morning starving and without assistance, that number could reach 20 million.
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