Parliamentary Search

Written question asked by Lord Hylton (Crossbench) on Friday, 8 January 2021, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Friday, 22 January 2021. It was answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Conservative) on Friday, 22 January 2021 on behalf of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

Yemen: Famine

Question

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the remarks by the Executive Director of UNICEF on 10 December 2020 at the Averting famine in Yemen: What can we do now and in 2021 event in New York; and what plans they have to coordinate international action for (1) disease prevention, (2) child nutrition, and (3) peace building in Yemen.

Answer

The UK is extremely concerned about increased levels of food insecurity and risk of famine in Yemen with 7 million people, including 2 million children, requiring treatment for acute malnutrition. We are playing a leading role in combating hunger in Yemen by committing £214 million this financial year (2020/21), £200m of which has already been disbursed.

Our support will provide over 600,000 medical consultations, train 1,500 healthcare workers to work safely in a COVID-19 environment and enable nearly 600 health centres to continue providing existing health services. This financial year (2020/21), UK aid to UNICEF has already helped to screen 450,000 children for malnutrition and enrolled over 25,000 children on Severe and Acute Malnutrition treatment programmes.

The UK will continue to urge the international community to step up, including by urgently disbursing humanitarian funding. As penholder at the UN Security Council we are leading efforts to encourage all parties to the conflict to engage in new peace talks led by UN Special Envoy Martin Griffiths.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
HL11934
Session
2019-21
Subjects
Children Health services Diseases International cooperation Nutrition Famine Yemen Peace negotiations UNICEF
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk