UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) — The United Nations and humanitarian partners on Wednesday launched an international appeal for 2.1 billion U.S. dollars to provide life-saving assistance to 12 million people in Yemen in 2017.
Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said at the daily news briefing here that “this is the largest consolidated humanitarian appeal for Yemen ever launched.”
Meanwhile, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen O’Brien said while launching the plan in Geneva that Yemenis might face the threat of famine in the course of 2017 without international support, according to Dujarric.
At present, some 18.8 million people – more than two-thirds of Yemenis- are in need of humanitarian assistance. An estimated 10.3 million people are acutely affected and need immediate humanitarian assistance to save and sustain their lives. Nearly 3.3 million people – including 2.1 million children – are acutely malnourished while 2 million people remain internally displaced.
Last year, UN agencies and partners assisted more than 5.6 million Yeminis with direct humanitarian aid.
