Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is raising the alarm about malnutrition in Yemen as people’s needs are far outstripping the existing treatment capacity, underscoring a deep humanitarian crisis.
Between January 2022 and December 2024, MSF-supported facilities treated 35,442 malnourished children under the age of five across five governorates: Amran, Saada, Hajjah, Taiz, and Hodeidah. These figures reflect the ongoing struggle for families to buy food and access healthcare after years of conflict and instability, compounded by the country’s deteriorating economy.
A new MSF report, Yemen’s rising tide of malnutrition: seasonal trends 2022-2024, outlines the alarming figures seen in the facilities.
“This is not the time for half-measures. Children are arriving in increasingly critical condition. People can no longer wait for help that simply isn’t coming fast enough” says Mohammed. “If we don’t act now by boosting nutrition programmes, ensuring affordable transport to health facilities, and bringing care closer to people in need, then we risk an even greater surge of malnutrition in the months ahead,” says Himedan Mohammed, head of operations for MSF Middle East.
While MSF has scaled up treatment capacity, the organization are unable to meet all the needs. Each annual malnutrition season is leaving the facilities overwhelmed with children in need of care, with many also suffering from measles, cholera and acute watery diarrhoea. Last September, during the annual peak malnutrition season, bed occupancy rates in most MSF-supported facilities reached extremely high levels. In Al-Salam Hospital in Amran governorate, the bed occupancy rate soared to 254 per cent that month. Healthcare staff are often forced to provide care for patients in crowded hallways and makeshift spaces.
Aisha brought her five-month-old daughter Zahra’a to Al-Salam Hospital for lifesaving care.
“We travelled over two hours and spent 15,000 Yemeni riyals [about US$61] to get here,” she says. “With only one breadwinner in our family of 12, we can barely meet our daily needs, and the nearest health centres don’t have specialised departments to treat malnutrition. I am afraid to lose her, she is the only girl in the family,” says Aisha. “I hope she recovers soon and I hope more organisations will come here to support people, especially those who do not have enough food or income.”
Suspensions and reductions in food assistance programmes have intensified hardship for people across Yemen. In 2023 and 2024, over 10,000 children received treatment at the MSF-supported facility in Ad-Dahi Hospital, Hodeidah governorate. The Abs hospital in Hajjah governorate recorded a staggering 200 per cent bed occupancy rate in September 2024, followed by 176 per cent in October – the highest levels in the last six years.
Malnutrition is aggravated by gaps in healthcare infrastructure and gaps in vaccination coverage, among other factors. According to the World Health Organization, as of April 2024, nearly 46 per cent of health facilities in Yemen were partially functional or completely out of service.
Given the sudden and drastic reductions in humanitarian funding to Yemen, sustained donor engagement and flexible funding from major donors are crucial to address Yemen’s escalating humanitarian crisis. Adequate and consistent funding, along with stronger partnerships between the Ministry of Health, donors, and implementing partners, will help revive healthcare centres and ensure they effectively serve local communities and the most affected locations. MSF urges these stakeholders to expand community-based vaccination efforts to curb preventable diseases like measles, cholera and acute watery diarrhoea.
There is a need for urgent improvements in targeted food distribution programmes in Yemen. Efforts like these will ensure pregnant and lactating women, as well as children under five, receive the nutrition they need before their health is threatened. Without swift collective action, Yemen’s most vulnerable people will suffer further under an overburdened health system and rising malnutrition rates.
