UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher on Thursday called for more funding for Yemen as the humanitarian crisis in the country has not improved.
Funding shortages, fueled by uncertainty and a lack of confidence, have now crippled UN operations, Fletcher told the Security Council in a briefing via video link.
With the humanitarian appeal for Yemen barely 20 percent funded, the calculation is simple: when funding drops, rations are cut, clinics close and protection services disappear, he said.
Fletcher said he had just allocated 10 million U.S. dollars from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund for food security, noting that the fund is just a stopgap, not a solution.
He called on donors to provide flexible and predictable funding. "We have the capacity to deliver; we need the resources to bridge the chasm between desperate need and the current support we are getting," said the UN relief chief.
Fletcher said the humanitarian situation in Yemen remains unchanged, with hunger rising, health services crumbling, and families having exhausted their last coping mechanisms. He warned that the convergence of climate shocks and renewed regional tension threatens to deepen the catastrophe.
The toll on women and girls is particularly alarming, he said. Nearly 11 million women and girls require humanitarian support, including 5.5 million women of reproductive age and over 750,000 pregnant women.
Fletcher warned that the health system is at a breaking point: facilities lack basic supplies and personnel and disease outbreaks are surging. In Ma'rib alone, authorities have declared a health emergency due to a measles outbreak -- the second-highest case count globally this year.
Over half the Yemeni population is experiencing acute food insecurity, he noted. Six million people -- the highest number globally -- face emergency levels of deprivation, bordering famine.
"The drivers are clear: regional tensions inflating prices, economic decline eroding livelihoods, and a critical shortfall in humanitarian funding," he said, adding that El Nino conditions will devastate crops, water availability and rural livelihoods, further compounding the situation.
Fletcher said access remains a significant hurdle. Between July 2025 and July 2026, over 200 humanitarian access incidents were recorded across the country. Interference, violence against staff, movement restrictions continue to impede, delay and constrain relief operations, he noted.
"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. They deserve -- and we must ensure they get -- dignity, opportunity and hope," said Fletcher. ■
