Food assistance for more than one million Yemenis

Source:  WFP, 12/12/2012

WFP, ISLAMIC RELIEF LAUNCH JOINT PUSH TO FEED MORE THAN ONE MILLION HUNGRY YEMENIS

SANA’A – The UN World Food Programme (WFP) and non-governmental organisation Islamic Relief have embarked upon a massive collaborative effort to deliver emergency food assistance to 1.1 million Yemenis before the end of the year.

This huge, month-long, operation in December aims to  deliver almost 7,500 metric tons of wheat and more than 700,000 litres of vegetable oil to 157,000 food insecure households at 850 separate locations in five governorates—Sana’a, Mareb, Dhamar, Hodeidah and.

“This ambitious project marks the final phase in 2012 of an emergency food assistance operation that has been repeatedly scaled up during the year to meet the growing humanitarian crisis in Yemen,” said WFP Deputy Country Director Henning Scharpff. “With the help of our partner Islamic Relief, it will help push us very close to reaching our target of providing food assistance to almost 3.9 million severely food insecure Yemenis this year.”

An additional 280 metric tons of micronutrient-enriched high energy biscuits will also be distributed to children under five in Lahj, where child malnutrition is widespread.

“Islamic Relief, in addition to partnering with WFP to deliver food assistance to food insecure people, also calls for and promotes more attention to food security, including restoration of terraces, water harvesting and capacity building; providing essential tools such as seeds and capacity building activities to promote self-reliance,” said Islamic Relief Yemen Country Director Hashem Awnallah.

“It is in this context that Islamic Relief will continue to liaise with WFP and other concerned agencies to address food security planning, information systems and food security resilience issues.” 

A WFP Comprehensive Food Security Survey (CFSS) earlier this year found that more than 10 million Yemenis – almost 45 percent of the population – are food insecure.

Out of those, more than 5 million Yemenis were found to be severely food insecure – a level of need that means they are unable to produce or buy the food they need and require food assistance because.

In response, WFP scaled up its emergency food assistance operation twice during 2012, from an initial target of 1.2 million people in January to 1.8 million in June and finally to almost 3.9 million in September.

 Beneficiaries receive a monthly ration of 25 kilograms of wheat and 2.5 litres of vegetable oil over a six month period to enable poorer households consume enough calories to feed a family.