Funding shortfall forces WFP to halt malnutrition prevention in Yemen

ADEN, Yemen, July 30 (Xinhua) — The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has announced that it will suspend its malnutrition interventions in Yemen starting in August due to a severe lack of funding.

The WFP released a report on Saturday stating that the combination of insufficient funds and ongoing disruptions in supplies has forced them to cease malnutrition prevention activities in the country. This decision is expected to have a devastating impact on the 2.4 million malnourished individuals in Yemen, who are already among the most vulnerable.In order to navigate this critical situation, the UN agency has stated that it will allocate the limited available funds to life-saving treatment programs for severe acute malnutrition cases.

However, the report highlights that their plan for the next six months, spanning from August 2023 to January 2024, has only received 28 percent of the necessary funding.

Yemen has been embroiled in a devastating civil war since 2014, with Houthi rebels fighting against the internationally-recognized government and its allies.

The war has severely disrupted Yemen’s food supply chain, leading to widespread famine and pushing the Arab world’s poorest country to the brink of collapse.