The Disasters Emergency Committee has raised £20m for the Yemen Crisis Appeal since it opened in December, it has announced today.
The appeal, which launched on 23 December, has now raised the figure from the British public, corporate supporters and the UK Government through its Aid Match contribution.
The UN announced this month that Yemen is on the brink of famine. Almost 19 million people, 80 per cent of the population, are desperately in need of help, with 14 million people already hungry.
Saleh Saeed, chief executive of the DEC, has returned from war-torn Yemen, visiting the work that DEC member charities are already doing with funds raised from the Yemen Crisis Appeal to help more than 1.5 million people with lifesaving aid, including food, cash aid, health care, water and sanitation.
Saleh said: “I visited Hodeida, one of the areas worst affected by extreme hunger. The number of patients attending the hospital there has increased fivefold over the last year. It broke my heart to see so many children suffering from severe malnutrition. They were so weak they could hardly stand.
“But there is hope – the funds that the British public have given to the DEC Yemen Crisis Appeal are already making a huge difference. In the Al Zuhra clinic in Hodeida, I watched children like one-year-old Omar have their mid-upper arm measured, a simple way to quickly and easily diagnose malnutrition. Omar was then prescribed 10 packets of ‘Plumpy Nut’ – a tasty peanut paste and life-saving treatment which only costs 25p per sachet and can easily be given to children by their parents.”
The DEC announced in December that the appeal had raised £13m.
DEC member charities, including the Red Cross, CARE International, Islamic Relief, Oxfam and Save the Children, are already working across the country. Christian Aid and Tearfund are supporting activities of partner charities responding to the crisis.
Donations can be made online, by calling 0370 60 60 900, at high street banks and post offices, or by texting SUPPORT to 70000 to give £5.
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