United Nations relief chief Tom Fletcher told the UN Security Council on Thursday that the convergence of climate shocks and renewed regional tension threatens to deepen the humanitarian crisis in Yemen as hunger rises and health services crumble. Fletcher warned that the Yemeni people's enduring resilience should not be used to justify the international community's failure to address the collapsing humanitarian situation.
“Hunger is rising, health services are crumbling, and families have exhausted their last coping mechanisms. And now, the convergence of climate shocks and renewed regional tension threatens to deepen this catastrophe,” said Fletcher, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator.
“More than a decade into this conflict, millions of Yemenis face impossible, daily choices: food or medicine, education or work, survival or displacement.”
In his briefing to the Security Council, he expressed particular alarm about the toll on women and girls. According to Fletcher, nearly 11 million women and girls require humanitarian support, including 5.5 million women of reproductive age and over 750,000 pregnant women.
“Essential care for them is out of reach: four out of five women lack access to life-saving reproductive health services. With only one in five health facilities providing maternal care, the cost is lethal: three women die every day from preventable, pregnancy-related complications,” he said, while the ”health system is at a breaking point.”
The frailty of the health system was further illustrated by a severe measles outbreak in the Marib region, which the Yemeni authorities declared a health emergency. Currently, the region has the second-highest number of cases globally this year.
Food insecurity has also reached staggering levels. Fletcher revealed that over half of Yemen's population is experiencing acute food insecurity, with six million people—the highest number globally—facing emergency levels of hunger bordering on famine.
“The drivers are clear: regional tensions inflating prices, economic decline eroding livelihoods, and a critical shortfall in humanitarian funding,” the UN relief chief said.
Compounding these human-made issues is an emerging threat related to extreme weather conditions.
Fletcher warned that El Niño conditions are expected to reduce rainfall by 40 percent across key agricultural areas. This shift is expected to devastate crops and reduce water availability, further straining a country that is already one of the most vulnerable to climate change.
He noted that humanitarian access remains a "significant hurdle" and called for the release of UN staff and others detained by the Houthi armed group.
“As you’ve heard, 73 UN colleagues remain detained by the Houthi de facto authorities, along with workers and former workers from NGOs [non-governmental organizations], civil society and diplomatic missions,” he said.
“Their families live with uncertainty every day. Their release is more than an institutional demand, it is an appeal to our shared humanity: let them return safely to their families and let us create the environment in which support and services can be accessed by those most in need – safely, independently, impartially.”
While humanitarian organizations reached an average of 5.3 million people each month in Yemen last year, Fletcher warned that funding shortages have “crippled” aid operations, with this year’s appeal for the country barely 20 percent funded.
“The calculation is simple: when funding drops, rations are cut, clinics close and protection services disappear,” he said.
He acknowledged the contributions of major donors, including the European Commission, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, Germany, and South Korea, but cautioned that recent allocations are merely "stopgap" measures.
The UN relief chief concluded his briefing with three demands. He called on donors to provide "flexible, predictable funding," urged all parties to protect civilians and release detained workers, and asked the Security Council to maintain its focus on Yemen to secure "genuine progress."
"The people of Yemen have shown extraordinary resilience, but resilience can never be an excuse for the world to demand that they simply endure more," Fletcher said. "They deserve – and we must ensure they get – dignity, opportunity and hope."
Escalating hunger, malnutrition, eroding resilience, and collapsing humanitarian funding are pushing millions of people deeper into crisis, with an estimated 22.3 million people—nearly two-thirds of Yemen's population—in need of humanitarian assistance.
Currently, over 53 percent of the total population—approximately 18 million people—are experiencing severe food insecurity. Yemen's nutrition crisis is one of the worst in the world. More than 2.5 million children under five, as well as 1.3 million pregnant or breastfeeding women, are acutely malnourished. Nearly half of all children under five are stunted.
Furthermore, 40 percent of the country's health facilities are nonfunctional or partially functional, severely limiting the capacity for malnutrition screening and treatment. As the health system continues to collapse, an estimated 19.3 million people require urgent healthcare.
Yemen's ongoing crises are set against the backdrop of continued fragmentation and conflict among multiple factions. These actors include the Ansar Allah movement, also known as the Houthis, who control the capital, Sanaa, and large areas in the north and west; the internationally recognized government, based in Aden; and various armed groups that control different parts of the country.
This unresolved conflict and climate-related disasters have forced millions of people from their homes. Yemen is facing the world's fifth-largest internal displacement crisis, with over 5 million people displaced within the country. Among the most vulnerable are internally displaced people, refugees, and migrants.