The U.N. warned on Monday that the humanitarian situation in Yemen is worsening and that gains made to tackle malnutrition and health would go into reverse due to funding cuts.
“We are expecting things to be much worse in 2026,” Julien Harneis, U.N. Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen, told reporters in Geneva.
Some 21 million people will need humanitarian assistance this year, an increase from 19.5 million the previous year, according to the U.N. The situation has been aggravated by economic collapse and disruption of essential services including health and education, and political uncertainty, Harneis said.
Funding Yemen traditionally received from Western countries was now being cut back, Herneis said, pointing to hopes for more help from Gulf countries.
“It is certainly very clear that they’re (Saudi Arabia) very concerned and that they do want to more, so we will explore that with them.”
The U.S. slashed its aid spending this year, and leading Western donors also pared back help as they pivoted to raise defence spending, triggering a funding crunch for the U.N.
Yemen has been the focus of one of the world’s largest humanitarian operations in a decade of civil war that disrupted food supplies. The country has also been a source of heightened tensions in recent months between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
“Children are dying and it’s going to get worse,” Harneis said. Food insecurity is projected to worsen across the country, with higher rates of malnutrition anticipated, he stated.
“For 10 years, the U.N. and humanitarian organisations were able to improve mortality and improve morbidity…this year, that’s not going to be the case.”
YEMEN GROWS MORE VULNERABLE TO EPIDEMICS, OFFICIAL SAYS
He said Yemen’s humanitarian crisis threatened the region with diseases like measles and polio that could cross borders.
In 2025 680 million dollars was afforded to the U.N. in Yemen, about 28% of the intended target, Harneis said.
The health system, supported by the U.N. and the World Bank for the last decade, was going to lose funding and the country was going to be very vulnerable to epidemics, Harneis stated.
U.N. operations are limited to government-held areas, with U.N. agencies unable to help Houthi-held areas which make up about 70% of humanitarian needs, Harneis said. Staff security is worsening with 73 U.N. colleagues now detained since 2021.
In September the U.N. said it had relocated the base of its resident coordinator for Yemen to Aden, more than a week after at least 18 U.N. personnel were detained in the capital Sanaa, which is controlled by the Houthis.
“To see our humanitarian response so hobbled is terrifying,” Harneis stated.
Houthi officials have previously said that legal immunities for U.N. personnel should not be a cover for espionage.
(Reuters)
