Al-Thawra Net
Parts of Yemen are now in famine, according to a United Nations World Food Program report seen by ITV News.
Doctors and aid workers here confirmed the assessment and told us there is no doubt that the official statistics are lagging behind the reality on the ground.
Famine is officially declared only when specific statistical conditions are met. But in rural Yemen, now in its third year of war, accurate data collection is potentially impossible.
Many poor communities here are extremely remote, hours from the nearest tarmac road.
Half of Yemen’s medical facilities are out of action, many have been bombed. Few people can afford to travel to hospital for medical care.
No written population records are kept, thousands of children do not attend school, the dead are buried quickly in accordance with local custom – and whole sections of Yemen’s population are beyond the authorities’ reach.
The report, by the United Nations World Food Program, outlines the official hunger statistics (known as IPC’s) for March this year.
It states: “The situation continues to deteriorate by the day; together we are facing down the very real threat of a conflict-induced famine.
“Even though there is no statistical confirmation of famine in Yemen a number of UN agencies and partners concur that pockets of famine already exist.”
In one small and remote village visited by ITV News, 10 children have died this year from hunger or illness.
Village elder Mohammed Ali Ismail told us: “We always feel that we are alone because no help, nobody asks about us, no organization visits us.”
A senior human worker told us: “The IPCs are meaningless here.”
The UN say their funding requirement in Yemen for the next 12 months is $ 1.2 billion.
So far they have raised just 10% of that.
