Yemen

In 2026, people in Yemen face a deepening humanitarian crisis with devastating consequences. It continues to face the region's most severe hunger crisis. More than 18 million people face acute food insecurity. Yemen is also the country with the largest number of people – 5.5 million – experiencing emergency food security conditions or above (Phase 4 of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification).

This crisis is unfolding amid a rise in outbreaks of preventable disease and low immunization coverage. Just under two thirds of children are fully immunized.

Between January and September last year, Yemen recorded more than 18,600 measles cases and 188 deaths, among the world’s highest. Yemen also registered the third‑highest cholera caseload worldwide between March 2024 and November 2025.

Food insecurity, limited access to healthcare and preventable disease are driving a dangerous rise in malnutrition, especially among children. More than 2.2 million children under the age of five are acutely malnourished, including 570,000 suffering from severe acute malnutrition. Nearly one in two children in Yemen is stunted and wasting rates remain among the worst in the world. An additional 1.3 million pregnant and breastfeeding women are at serious risk to be malnourished this year, in 2026.

Funding cuts have had a drastic impact on delivery of humanitarian aid.

The health system is coming under increasing strain. Some 40 per cent of health facilities are not functioning or at risk of closing due to funding shortfalls and our partners scaling back their operations.

The UN country team is finalizing the 2026 response plan.

Despite operational and funding constraints, humanitarian actors remain on the ground and are delivering assistance to the most vulnerable communities across the country. Our partners delivered food aid to more than 5 million people, provided 3.3 million medical consultations, and treated more than 330,000 children for severe acute malnutrition. This was achieved with the 2025 humanitarian appeal funded at only 28.5 per cent, forcing us to make impossible choices.