Yemen’s aid plan is only a fifth funded as child hunger deepens

By the time aid organisations called Tahani’s father back, his eight-year-old daughter had died. He told Al Jazeera she died of hunger, after years of seeking help from officials and relief groups. Her story exposes the human stakes of Yemen’s funding squeeze: the country’s 2026 humanitarian plan seeks about $2.16 billion, but only 20.6% has been funded, according to response-plan data cited in the investigation.

More than 2.2 million Yemeni children under five have acute malnutrition, including 516,157 with the severe form, according to United Nations figures reported by Al Jazeera. About 18.3 million people face acute food shortages, and more than 22 million need humanitarian assistance. The war, which began about 12 years ago, has left families dependent on relief while poverty and displacement keep undermining their recovery.

Treatment cannot repair a household’s income

In al-Khadeesh displacement camp in Hajjah governorate, Jiyad Mohammed Jalal is not yet two. His family fled Haradh district, and his severe malnutrition now requires repeated hospital care. His experience illustrates a wider challenge documented by Al Jazeera: children arrive for treatment after their families have already been worn down by displacement and poverty. Saving them medically does not remove the conditions awaiting them at home.

At a government nutrition clinic in Marib’s al-Sumayya camp, Dr Muajiba al-Mansouri said staff treated 33 children with severe acute malnutrition, 85 with moderate cases and 84 mothers over the past year. The clinic had recorded no malnutrition deaths when she spoke to Al Jazeera. Four severely malnourished children recovered their appetite and gained weight after their mothers learned therapeutic feeding. Yet illness, poor diets and feeding difficulties remain compounded by war and poverty, she said.

The pressure extends beyond children. An estimated 1.3 million pregnant and breastfeeding women suffer from malnutrition. UN agencies say about 14.4 million people need water, sanitation and hygiene services, while only around 59.3% of health facilities are fully operational. These gaps leave households facing overlapping needs that nutrition treatment alone cannot meet.

Less money, narrower coverage

The funding shortfall spans years and covers all humanitarian sectors, not just nutrition. In 2022, Yemen received $2.27 billion against a $4.27 billion requirement. In 2024, funding reached about $1.51 billion against $2.71 billion sought. UNICEF told Al Jazeera that inadequate funding has pushed programmes towards life-saving treatment at the expense of prevention and restricted access to children in the hardest-to-reach areas.

Yemen’s Health Ministry said severe malnutrition cases among children under five increased in January–July 2026 compared with the same period in 2025. It said falling World Food Programme funding roughly halved the programme’s coverage, from 122 districts to 62. Fewer registered cases in some places therefore should not be read as evidence of improvement. The ministry also cited insufficient government budget support, therapeutic food and health workers.

Al Jazeera also examined project spending. Documents it obtained showed a Norwegian Refugee Council project in Hajjah budgeted about $1.1 million, with roughly $353,000 allocated to activities linked to its objectives. A World Food Programme project with Relief International, worth about $4.86 million, included more than $2 million for salaries and allowances and about $1.84 million for storage. These project figures are separate from the national funding totals.

Humanitarian aid can save lives, but it cannot restore salaries, jobs or public services, argues aid and war-economy specialist Mousa Alaya.

The next test is whether funding can sustain treatment while rebuilding prevention and reaching more districts. Alaya’s broader warning, reported by Al Jazeera, is that the value of aid must be judged by what it changes, not simply how much arrives. For families leaving nutrition clinics, lasting recovery remains tied to food, income and functioning services.