Yemen

For over seven years, war has trapped children in a brutal cycle of hunger and sickness. We’re fighting to get desperately needed food to them.

Yemen, a nation on the southernmost part of the Arabian Peninsula, has long been one of the poorest countries in the Middle East.

In March 2015, a long-running political crisis escalated into violence, with devastating consequences for the people and children who live in Yemen.

After more than seven years, the Yemen conflict left 12.3m children in need of help.

Save the Children works in 11 regions in Yemen, with programmes focusing on:

Your vital donations helped us to:

• provide life-saving treatment for malnourished children
• train health care workers in malnutrition prevention
• tackle deadly diseases, such as cholera and diptheria
• send PPE to health centres, so staff can keep themselves and patients safe from COVID-19
• raise awareness of how to stop the spread of COVID-19 in communities
• deploy mobile health clinics to hard-to-reach areas
• provide maternal mental health training to health workers to help them support mothers to cope with their stress and anxiety

Thanks to your support, we've provided health services for more than 5.9m children.

Our nutrition response has provided preventative treatment as well as life-saving support for more than 2.4m children.

4.6m children were in need of child protection assistance. Your vital donations helped us to:

• run safe spaces where children can learn and play
• provide psychosocial support after horrifying experiences
• raise awareness about violence and exploitation.

Thanks to your support, we've helped more than 630,000 children find a safe place to play and recover.

Up to 75% of schools are destroyed in some areas. Your vital donations helped to:

• set up temporary learning spaces and support education in refugee camps
• distribute essential supplies such as school bags and uniforms 
• run catch-up classes for children who've missed school
• tackle the financial barriers that can reduce children's access to education.

Thanks to your support and alongside our partners, we've helped over 700,000 children to get an education.

As so many children have had their education disrupted by the conflict and the pandemic, we run extra classes to help them catch up.

Food insecurity affects 20.1m Yemenis (67% of the population), including 10.3m children. Your vital donations helped us to:

• feed children and pregnant/breastfeeding mothers at risk of malnutrition
• give families cash and vouchers for food and medicine to boost local markets.

Thanks to your support, 2.3 million people - including 1 million children - have received food or cash since 2015.

We also provide food to women and girls who have experienced abuse, and to children who have been separated from their families.

Our Emergency Fund not only enables us to respond immediately when a disaster strikes, it also allows us to respond to the countless ongoing crises around the world that don't hit the headlines.  

Page last updated in July 2023