- 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 James Cleverly 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.
