By Dr. Luay Shabaneh, UNFPA’s Director for the Arab region

Cairo, 1 November 2018 – The famine looming over Yemen may be the worst in the world’s recent history, and may put an estimated 2 million malnourished pregnant and lactating women at increased risk of death.

Lack of food, displacement, poor nutrition, disease outbreaks and eroding healthcare have heavily affected the health and well-being of 1.1 million malnourished pregnant and lactating women, causing numerous cases of premature or low-birth weight babies, severe postpartum bleeding, and extremely life threatening labor processes.

Nearly half of the health facilities no longer function in Yemen, including those providing reproductive health services that are supposed to diagnose and treat these women.

Working with limited funding, UNFPA’s support to 184 health facilities that offer reproductive health services may stop if additional resources do not become available.