Yemen has been gripped by conflict for decades, but an escalation in violence in more recent years has plunged the country into humanitarian catastrophe.
One of the world’s poorest countries, Yemen now teeters on the brink of famine after years of conflict, economic downturn and shortfalls in humanitarian funding. Some 20.7 million people depend on urgent humanitarian aid to survive.
The tragedy has reached epic proportions, with a child dying every 10 minutes from preventable causes like diarrhoea, breathing infections and malnutrition. More than 4 million people are internally displaced and humanitarian access is difficult.
Islamic Relief began working in Yemen in 1998 and registered our office in the country in 2003. We significantly strengthened our programming following the escalation of the conflict in March 2015.
In 2020 alone, we reached more than 3.7 million people through interventions including food aid, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), nutrition and healthcare, orphan and child welfare, survival items and livelihoods.
Currently over 2 million people rely on regular food aid distributed by Islamic Relief, with our programming set to expand thanks to a £2 million funding boost from the World Food Programme.
Islamic Relief Yemen’s country office is in the capital city, Sana’a. We have 8 field offices in Dhamar, Amran, Aden, Taiz, Hodeida, Sa’ada, Marib and Raymah. We have over 300 staff and 3,000 volunteers.
We call for all parties of the conflict to respect international humanitarian law so that aid workers and medical staff are able to do their life-saving work without being attacked.
Learn more in ‘Islamic Relief in Yemen’.
Please support our work in Yemen here.
