Funding gaps jeopardise aid in Yemen as COVID-19 spreads -UN

"Unless UNICEF receives $30 million by the end of June, water, sanitation and hygiene services will start shutting down for 4 million people in July," Marixie Mercado of the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF) said. Only 10% of $53 million it seeks for COVID operations has been received, reducing its ability to provide protective equipment and medical supplies, she added.

United Nations aid agencies voiced alarm on Friday at the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Yemen as COVID-19 spreads and a lack of funding jeopardizes life-saving programs. "More than 30 of the 41 U.N.-supported programs in Yemen will close in the coming weeks if additional funds are not secured," U.N. human rights spokesman Rupert Colville told a U.N. briefing in Geneva.

Jens Laerke, the spokesman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said that of the $1.35 billion pledged for Yemen in early June $1 billion short of the target only 47% of promised funds have been received. "Unless UNICEF receives $30 million by the end of June, water, sanitation and hygiene services will start shutting down for 4 million people in July," Marixie Mercado of the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF) said. Only 10% of $53 million it seeks for COVID operations has been received, reducing its ability to provide protective equipment and medical supplies, she added.