U.K. announces $56M to assist Yemen with nutrition

Oct 11 2012

"The U.K. has announced that £35 million ($56 million) in aid over the next three years will be aimed at improving nutrition for mothers and children in Yemen amid fears that a hunger crisis will derail fragile gains in the Middle East's poorest country," the Guardian reports. "More than 10 million people in Yemen, a country with a population of around 24.7 million, are thought to be at risk because of insufficient food," and "[i]n the worst-affected parts of the country, as many as one in three children are suffering from life-threatening acute malnutrition," the newspaper notes. "The U.K. funding will go towards long-term support to help improve nutrition for 1.65 million women and children in 60 of the most vulnerable, deprived and conflict-affected districts in the eight governorates where the need is greatest," according to the Guardian (Tran, 10/10).

Specifically, the money "will be spent on assisting UNICEF in treating acute malnutrition in 100,000 children and delivering nutritional counseling and micronutrient supplements for 750,000 women, plus improving water, sanitation and hygiene facilities in 300 schools helping 250,000 children," the Press Association/Huffington Post U.K. reports. "Other priorities will include providing vitamin A supplements and/or deworming treatment for 550,000 children, offering counseling to help improve infant feeding practices for 130,000 parents and training 12,000 community health volunteers to recognize and treat malnutrition," the news service notes. The funding represents the first part of a £196 million [$314 million], three-year pledge, "which the U.K. announced at the Donors Conference in Saudi Arabia in September," according to the news service (10/9).