- UK funding will aim to deliver crucial support to over one
million vulnerable Yemeni women and children annually.
- The measures will look to reduce deaths and disease among
women and children by providing nutrition, improving access to
water, and sexual and reproductive health services.
- Announcement follows three-day visit to the Middle East by
the Foreign Secretary to emphasise the UK’s growing partnership
with the region.
A new humanitarian programme which will aim to deliver vital
healthcare support to vulnerable Yemeni women and children has
been announced by the UK.
During a visit to Jordan this week, the Foreign Secretary met
with UNICEF and partners tackling the humanitarian situation in
Yemen and he set out details of the new Yemen Women and Children
Programme.
The £160m four-year programme will deliver primary health care,
including nutrition, water hygiene and sanitation, and sexual and
reproductive health services, to some of the most vulnerable in
Yemen.
It will aim to reach over 1 million women and children annually
and increase protection for women and children by preventing and
responding to gender-based violence, and assisting and protecting
people in conflict.
Yemen remains one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises,
with 21.6 million Yemenis - two-thirds of Yemen’s population -
identified by the UN as in need of humanitarian assistance this
year. However, it is welcome that full-scale conflict has not
resumed since the UN brokered truce formally expired in October
2022.
Foreign Secretary said:
The conflict in Yemen continues to cause pain and suffering for
millions of ordinary Yemenis, with women and children
particularly paying a heavy price.
The UK remains committed to tackling the humanitarian crisis in
Yemen, and the new Yemen Women and Children Programme will
deliver vital support to the most vulnerable.
The UK is a top contributor to the UN-led response in Yemen
having contributed over £1bn since the conflict began.
There are high levels of preventable deaths amongst mothers and
babies because women are unable to access reproductive health
services. Extreme poverty, food insecurity and malnutrition in
Yemen have been made worse by years of conflict. Across Yemen,
2.2 million children and 1.3 million pregnant and nursing mothers
are acutely malnourished, including more than half a million
children suffering from severe acute malnutrition.
Background information:
- The visit to Jordan concludes the Foreign Secretary’s three
day tour of the Middle East this week, where he also visited
Qatar and Kuwait. See here for more details: Foreign
Secretary travels to Middle East to build mutually beneficial
ties - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
- The conflict has led to outbreaks of spreadable diseases
including those we can vaccinate against, such as polio, cholera,
diphtheria, and measles. According to UNICEF at least one child
dies every ten minutes because of preventable diseases. This
programme will address the factors that directly lead to high
death rates amongst women and children, focusing on malnutrition,
disease and childbirth.
