Twenty million people in war-torn Yemen are hungry a staggering 70 per cent of the population and a 15 per cent increase from last year and for the first time 250,000 are facing "catastrophe," the U.N. humanitarian chief said Monday.
Mark Lowcock, who recently returned from Yemen, told reporters there has been "a significant, dramatic deterioration" of the humanitarian situation in the country and "it's alarming."
He said that for the first time, 250,000 Yemenis are in Phase 5 on the global scale for classifying the severity and magnitude of food insecurity and malnutrition the severest level, defined as people facing "starvation, death and destitution."
He said Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will host a pledging conference with Sweden and Switzerland in Geneva on February 26. And he welcomed a new USD 500 million pledge from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, key coalition members, saying he understands "it will be largely in response to the 2019 appeal."