WFP "Funding Depletion Forces Reduction of Food Aid to Yemen... Support Urgently Needed"

$813 million (approximately 969.5 billion KRW) funding needed by May next year

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has appealed to the international community for support, stating that it has no choice but to reduce food aid to Yemen due to depleted funds. The photo shows a 7-month-old child being transported to a hospital for malnutrition in a village in northern Yemen last year. Photo by AP Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has appealed to the international community for support, stating that it has no choice but to reduce food aid to Yemen due to depleted funds.

According to AFP and other foreign media on the 22nd (local time), the WFP issued a statement saying that due to a lack of funds, food rations for 8 million Yemeni residents will be reduced starting January next year.

In the statement, the WFP explained, "We are well aware that reducing food rations will cause more residents to face hunger, but emergency measures are required in times of crisis," adding, "Since resources are limited, we have no choice but to focus relief efforts on the most urgent residents."

The WFP added that the ration for 5 million people currently facing famine will be maintained as is.

The WFP emphasized that to continue supporting Yemenis suffering from famine, $813 million (approximately 969.5 billion KRW) is needed by May next year, and a total of $1.97 billion (approximately 2.3492 trillion KRW) must be urgently injected throughout the year.

David Beasley, WFP Executive Director, previously warned in September that $3.85 billion (approximately 4.5 trillion KRW) is needed for Yemen support this year, but $1 billion (approximately 1.1 trillion KRW) is still lacking, and support could come to a halt.

Yemen, with a population of 30 million, has become the poorest country in the world as a seven-year civil war, regarded as a proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia, has continued since 2014. The United Nations estimates that more than 370,000 people have died due to this civil war so far.

Among them, 150,000 died directly from war-related causes. The remaining 220,000 are believed to have lost their lives due to indirect effects such as malnutrition and disease.

The United Nations expressed concern that if the current situation continues, 16 million people, more than half of Yemen's total population, will be driven to starvation.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.