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Situation in Numbers
(OCHA, 2022 Humanitarian Needs Overview)
12.9 million children in need of humanitarian assistance
23.4 million people in need
3.2 million children internally displaced (IDPs) (UNICEF, 2022 Yemen Humanitarian Action for Children)
Highlights
In 2022, UNICEF vaccinated 1,239,129 children between 6 months and 10 years with measles rubella (MR) vaccine.
UNICEF screened 6.9 million children under five for malnutrition. Out of these, 376,588 children with severe acute malnutrition (SAM) were identified and admitted for treatment.
UNICEF reached 6.6 million people, including over 3 million children, across Yemen with life-saving humanitarian assistance including safe drinking water, sanitation services and essential WASH supplies.
A total of 3.4 million children (49 per cent girls) and 2,511,341 caregivers (50 per cent women) received critical child protection services.* UNICEF, along with UNFPA and WFP, provided Rapid Response Mechanism (RRM) kits a total of 430,479 newly displaced people.
Funding Overview and Partnerships
The UNICEF Yemen Humanitarian Action for Children (HAC) was initially aligned to the 2021 inter-agency Yemen Humanitarian Response Plan (YHRP) and appealed for $484.4 million in 2022. UNICEF revised its HAC when the 2022 YHRP was released in May. While the number of people and children targeted changed, the total funding requirement remained the same ($484.4 million). Ongoing COVID-19 pandemic impacts, global economic instability, the increased price of oil affecting commodity prices and global logistical costs have all contributed to increased operational costs of delivering assistance in Yemen. Funding requirements for child protection and social protection increased, when compared to 2021, due to rising needs for protection from sexual exploitation and abuse, and scale-up of humanitarian cash transfer activities.
As of 31 December 2022, UNICEF received a total of $131 million in funding against the 2022 HAC appeal and a total of $63.8 million was carried forward from 2021. UNICEF wishes to express its deep gratitude to all donors for their generous contributions, which made the 2022 response possible. A funding gap of $289.6 million (60 per cent of the total amount) remained at the end of the year. This represents an increased gap over the same period in 2021, when the $508 million HAC was funded at 55 per cent by end of the year.
Situation Overview & Humanitarian Needs
Millions of people in Yemen continue to suffer from the compounded effects of more than eight years of armed conflict, ongoing economic crisis, recurrent natural hazards, COVID-19 pandemic and disrupted public services. More than 80 per cent of the country’s population struggle to access sufficient and nutritious food, safe drinking water and adequate health services. In 2022, an estimated 23.4 million people, almost three-quarters of the population, including 12.9 million children, needed humanitarian assistance and protection, with over 4 million people, including 2 million children, displaced.
During the year, Yemen endured intense rainfall and flash floods that affected more than 517,000 people. Flooding caused widespread damage to infrastructure, including homes, shelters, roads, bridges and irrigation and sewage systems, and proliferated diseases such as cholera, dengue, malaria and diphtheria. In addition, rising temperatures and changing precipitation patterns caused a decrease in the production of basic foods leading to an increased prevalence of malnutrition. The Yemen indicator for food vulnerability caused by climate change was 0.690, which is high when compared to many other Arab countries, such as Jordan (0.393) and Egypt (0.511).
Children in Yemen are exposed to multiple deprivations, including constrained access to social services, violence, abuse, exploitation, child marriage and risk of recruitment by conflicting parties, with a devastating impact on their physical and psychological well-being. Adolescents (10-19 years), an estimated 6.3 million or about 22 per cent of the total population, are among the most affected by protracted conflict. They face multiple risks, ranging from direct involvement in fighting to being displaced, having limited or no access to social services such as health care, education and vocational training, or generally being exposed to poor living conditions.
The political environment changed in April 2022 after assumption of power by the Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) and announcement of the UN-brokered truce. The subsequent six-month period, up to the truce’s expiry on 2 October, resulted in decreased civilian casualties and displacement, a steady flow of fuel imports through the Hodeidah port and commercial flights through Sana’a International Airport. Notwithstanding these benefits, localised clashes continued in some areas and landmines and explosive remnants of war (ERW) posed heightened risks. Despite extensive efforts, an agreement to extend the truce had not been reached by the end of 2022.
In 2022, 11,945 COVID-19 cases were officially confirmed, with 2,159 associated deaths. Most of this caseload was reported from the southern governorates. There is no COVID-19 vaccination and reporting in the northern part of the country.
A cumulative total of 20,686 measles and rubella suspected cases were reported in Yemen, out of which 1,445 cases (1,139 measles and 306 rubella) were confirmed through laboratory testing (52 per cent male and 48 per cent female). Over 50 per cent of suspected cases were amongst children aged one to five.
In 2022, Vaccine Derived Polio Virus type 2 (cVDPV2) continued to circulate in Yemen. As of December 2022 a total of 153 cVDPV2 cases were confirmed, with 96 per cent of these reported in the northern governorates. This brings the total number of cVDPV2 to 196 confirmed cases since the outbreak began in November 2021.
Between January and September 2022, the UN Country Task Force on Monitoring and Reporting (CTFMR) documented 1,449 incidents of grave violations against children, of which 94 per cent were verified. This includes verified violations of denials of humanitarian access (884), child casualties (427), 127 children killed (16 girls, 111 boys) and 300 children maimed (76 girls, 224 boys) by various parties to the conflict. Most of the incidents documented and verified were in the governorates of Amanat Al-Asima (210), Hodeidah (236), Sa'ada (199) and Taiz (106). There were 77 cases of child recruitment and use by armed forces and armed groups (two girls, 75 boys), three cases of rape and sexual violence (one girl, two boys), and 12 cases of abduction and arbitrary detention (one girls, 11 boys). In total 18 attacks on four schools and 14 hospitals were verified.