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In Yemen, Muna Zayed (right), 10, and her friend, Rahf, fill a jerry can at a water point in the Al Sha’ab camp in Aden.

Yemen Children's Crisis

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Children in Yemen need our urgent help.

Conflict has engulfed Yemen for nearly a decade now, leaving children and their families in desperate need. The statistics are harrowing - almost 10 million kids are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance, including over 120,000 who are suffering from severe acute malnutrition. The deadliest kind.

The media doesn’t seem to talk about the crisis in Yemen, but we can't afford to forget about the children living it every day.

The current emergency situation is only getting worse with widespread poverty, a collapsed healthcare system and a lack of clean water and sanitation. Families are being forced to make near impossible choices – whether to buy food or medicine, whether to flee their homes or stay and face violence.

We cannot turn our backs on the children of Yemen. They need us now more than ever.

Please consider making a donation today, you’ll be helping save lives and restore hope to those who’ve lost so much.

Sanad's miraculous recovery from malnutrition

Not that long ago, little Sanad was very unwell. He'd been vomiting and suffering from diarrhoea. His worried mum, Raneem, rushed him to the nearest UNICEF-supported health centre to get urgent help.

Once they found out their son had severe acute malnurition, Sanad's parents didn't know whether they could pay for the treatment.

“I had concerns about the prices of the medicine and treatment” says Raneem.

But thanks to UNICEF donors, Raneem didn't have to worry. “I know that everything is provided for free… and they received my son and started treating him immediately” she says.

After two months of treatment with therapeutic milk and food, they were able to bring Sanad home from hospital. And after another month, he’s back to his bubbly self.

“I can see how much has changed, my baby is finally smiling and laughing. It makes me so happy”, says Raneem gratefully.

The support that Sanad, and many kids in Yemen need, is only possible thanks to our donors. On behalf of parents in Yemen, thank you for any donation you can make to help their children.

Sanad’s recovery from malnutrition

What's happening in Yemen?

Yemen is facing one of the world's biggest humanitarian crises. The situation is dire, with an ongoing armed conflict, a collapsing economy, and a health system that's stretched thin with less than half of health facilities up and running.

Families are being forced to make near impossible choices – whether to buy food or medicine, whether to flee their homes or stay and face violence. I’m sure you’re with us that these are horrific decisions no parent should be faced with.

That’s why we need your help to ease the burden on desperate parents and continue to support kids who are bearing the brunt of the crisis.

Jawaher (14 months), being fed therapeutic food to treat her malnutrition.

Jawaher (14 months) munches on a packet of therapeutic food at Al-Salam Hospital, YEMEN.

Around 120,000 children in Yemen are expected to suffer from Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) in 2024. These kids will need urgent treatment with Ready-to-Use-Therapeutic Food (RUTF) to save their lives.

UNICEF is the largest supplier of RUTF, providing 75-80% of the world's supply.

What's UNICEF doing?

UNICEF is working non-stop to help the children of Yemen cope with the impact of conflict, and to help them to recover and resume their childhoods. But we urgently need more help.

Despite the challenging situation, donors enabled UNICEF to: 

  • Remain on the ground helping kids. We're not going anywhere while children need us.
  • Respond immediately to emergencies and support long-term sustainable programmes.
  • Help more than 2 million people access clean water in 2023.
  • Rehabilitate 1,000 schools across Yemen and help 337,000 kids go to school.
  • Vaccinate 815,000 kids against measles last year.
  • Provide vitamin A supplements to 2.5 million children in 2023.
  • Reach 328,000 children and caregivers with community-based mental health and well-being support last year.
9-year-old Hayat Ali Amkam collects water in the Omar Bin Yasser camp in Aden, YEMEN.

9-year-old Hayat Ali Amkam collects water in the Omar Bin Yasser camp in Aden, YEMEN.

What needs to happen now?

You have the power to make a real difference in children's lives in Yemen. We aren’t giving up on this generation of innocent kids and your support will help us do more.

When you donate, you're making sure that kids who are malnourished get the help they need, that displaced children don't miss out on education, that those dealing with stress and trauma receive the psychological care they deserve, and that families can access clean drinking water, proper sanitation, and hygiene facilities. It's a direct way to change lives for the better. 

Other ways you can donate

Please donate today, to make a difference in the lives of children in Yemen.

Call our friendly team to donate over the phone on 0800 243 575.

You can donate direct to our bank account 01-0505-0463764-00 using code 'yem-ws'

Other ways to support kids in Yemen:

Help us spread awareness of the situation for kids in Yemen by sharing this appeal with your friends and family. 

If you'd like to fundraise with your community to support our work, you can start a fundraiser here.

Disclaimer:

In the event that funds raised exceed UNICEF's funding requirements, the appeal no longer needs funding, or the decision is made to close this appeal, your one-off or ongoing monthly donation will go to our Greatest Need Appeal. Where possible we will communicate this with you, however in some circumstances this might not be possible.

Your life-saving monthly donations will support this appeal for a period of six months. After that they will go into our Greatest Need Fund to save and protect kids worldwide.

UPDATED: 4th September, 2024

We’re committed to transparency. To see how we split up expenses and manage our costs, read our annual report or visit UNICEF Open to see a live overview of all our projects.

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UNICEF Aotearoa is a registered charity with the New Zealand Charities Commission (CC35979), making you eligible for a tax refund of up to a third of your donation. All transactions are billed in New Zealand dollars.

UNICEF Aotearoa operates from Level 5, 86 Victoria Street, Wellington 6011, New Zealand.

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