OCHA says aid agencies reached 10.83 million people in Yemen from January to July
Yemen Herald News 
ADEN, Yemen — Humanitarian agencies reached about 10.83 million people in Yemen in the first seven months of 2026, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.
The figure covers January to July. It appears in a report issued by the agency.
OCHA said 133 humanitarian organisations delivered the assistance.
They reached an average of 3.6 million people a month across the country, according to the report.
Food security and livelihoods was the largest area of work. About 5.9 million people received that support, at an average of 1.7 million a month.
Nearly 2.6 million people received water, sanitation and hygiene services, OCHA said.
More than 1.2 million people were given health care support.
About 2.8 million people received nutrition assistance during the period.
The agency said the numbers reached remain below planned levels. It attributed the gap to a funding shortfall.
Yemen’s Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan for 2026 had received 20 percent of its required funding by the end of July, according to the report.
Tom Fletcher, the UN emergency relief coordinator, told the Security Council on 13 August that the appeal was barely 20 percent funded.
The plan seeks $2.16 billion to reach 12 million people. Of those, 9.4 million are prioritised for targeted assistance based on the severity of their needs.
OCHA says more than 22 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance.
It puts the number of acutely food insecure people at 18.3 million.
The agency reports that more than 2.2 million children under five are acutely malnourished. Of those, 516,157 are severely malnourished.
OCHA says 5.2 million people in Yemen are internally displaced.
The account of the January to July figures rests on OCHA’s report. Yemen Herald found no independent confirmation of the delivery totals published elsewhere.
The reporting period ended before the current escalation between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia.
OCHA said this month that at least 125,000 people had been displaced across Yemen since the start of September.
That is about 18,000 households, according to the agency.
OCHA said the fighting was driving civilian casualties and putting aid operations under growing pressure.
Members of the UN Security Council cited the displacement figure in a press statement on Friday that condemned Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia.
The Council called on the group to cease its military escalation.
The Houthis advanced along Yemen’s western coast in mid-September, taking Mocha and extending their reach toward the Bab al-Mandab Strait.
The strait links the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and carries a large share of seaborne trade between Europe and Asia.
The Houthis said on Saturday that they had fired missiles and drones at Riyadh and at an Aramco facility in Yanbu. The Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted a missile aimed at the Saudi capital.
Yemen’s war began when the Houthis seized Sanaa in 2014. A Saudi-led coalition intervened in March 2015 in support of the internationally recognised government.
The response plan is coordinated by OCHA and implemented by UN agencies and Yemeni and international non-governmental organisations.
Aid operations in Yemen run across territory held by the internationally recognised government and territory held by the Houthis.
The $2.16 billion request includes $1.6 billion for prioritised life-saving work across sectors, according to the response plan.
OCHA says 59.3 percent of health facilities in Yemen are fully functional. It puts full vaccination coverage at 63 percent.
The agency says the country carries a high burden of epidemic-prone diseases.
Cumulative suspected cholera cases reached 93,496 as of December 2025, with 248 deaths recorded across all governorates, according to OCHA.
The agency has warned that without timely and flexible funding, learning will be disrupted for more than 300,000 children and 1 million people may go without safe drinking water.
A year-long health programme in Abyan, Al Bayda, Al Husha and Far’ Al Udayn reached more than 42,000 people, the United Nations said in July.
Those reached included displaced families, women, children and people living with chronic illnesses.
UNICEF plans to reach 5,226,701 people in Yemen in 2026 under its own appeal, the agency says.
Its targets include vitamin A supplementation for 3,188,090 children and infant and young child feeding counselling for 1,462,120 primary caregivers.
The agency also aims to give individual learning materials to 316,491 children and water services to 260,000 adult men.
UNICEF projects that about 500,000 children in Yemen will suffer severe wasting during 2026.
It expects a further 1.3 million pregnant and breastfeeding women to be malnourished.
Some 14.4 million people in Yemen need water, sanitation and hygiene assistance, according to UNICEF.
The agency says more than 17.8 million people lack access to health care and to water, sanitation and hygiene services.
UNICEF has asked donors for flexible funding, which allows agencies to move money between sectors as needs shift.
As of December 2025 the cholera outbreak had affected 98 percent of the country, OCHA said.
The response plan covers food security, nutrition, health, water and sanitation, shelter, protection and education.
The mid-September advance was the group’s largest territorial gain in years, and global fuel prices rose as it continued, NPR reported.
Fletcher has served as UN emergency relief coordinator since 2024.
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