Yemen is one of the poorest countries in the Middle East, with 53% of the population suffering from multi-dimensional[1] poverty even before the escalation of conflict. The country also registers one of the highest chronic malnutrition rates in the world with half of the two million children under the age of five acutely malnourished and 47% stunted.

 

The outbreak of the conflict in March between the Saudi-allied national government and Houthi armed groups in Yemen has only exacerbated these issues and prompted a large scale protection crisis that now runs parallel to the overwhelming humanitarian needs that pre-existed the start of the conflict.

 

Today, 21.1 million people, including 9.9 million children (80% of the population) are now in need of humanitarian assistance. Over 4,000 people have been killed including almost 400 children and over 22,000 people have been injured including over 600 children[2].

The conflict has displaced more than a million people, destroyed infrastructure and resulted in serious shortages of fuel, food and other supplies. There are rising incidences of diseases such as dengue fever, and the health sector is on the verge of collapse in some areas, resulting in people dying of treatable and preventable causes. Potential famine has been highlighted as a risk[3], as the food security situation continues to worsen, and over 12 million people are now facing critical levels of food insecurity.

 

In July 2015, Save the Children supported 20 children and young people to conduct an assessment of 105 displaced children between the ages of 12 and 18 from the governorates of Sana’a, Aden, Hajjah, and Saadah. In the context of increased level of displacement and reduced access to basic services; the purpose of the assessment was to gauge the impact the conflict has had on displaced children and the issues that they are facing due to the intensification of violence over the past months. Furthermore, the findings of the assessment will be used to inform programme design for Save the Children’s response............

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