A senior official from the UN children’s fund (UNICEF) on Sunday (March 25th) said the agency urgently needs $350 million for humanitarian projects in Yemen, AFP reported.
"UNICEF is asking for 2018 alone for its humanitarian programme close to $350 million," said UNICEF’s Middle East and North Africa director Geert Cappelaere.
"That is peanuts compared to the billions of dollars that are currently invested in fighting war," Cappelaere said. "We are asking for peanuts."
More than 9,200 people have been killed and tens of thousands wounded in Yemen’s war since March 2015.
The UN says the war in Yemen has triggered the world's largest humanitarian disaster, with 8.4 million people facing imminent famine, as the country also battles cholera and diphtheria outbreaks.
Cappelaere gave a dire report on conditions in Yemen, and called for the "brutal senseless war on children to stop now".
He said children are bearing the brunt of the conflict in many ways.
"Five children were killed every single day in Yemen in 2017," he said, while "every single girl or boy in Yemen is facing acute humanitarian needs".
In addition, an estimated 80% of all Yemenis are living in poverty, Cappelaere said, calling for the flow of humanitarian aid into Yemen to be unimpeded.
