Yemen: “Wearing a school uniform is no longer a dream”

In Yemen, 24 million people need humanitarian assistance and protection. Of them, 17.8 million people lack access to safe water and sanitation. As a result, people are resorting to unimproved water sources and lack adequate sanitation. This increases the risk of diarrhoeal disease, which in turn leads to deteriorating nutritional status and, in some cases, greater risk of death. Although trucked or bottled water may offer relatively safer water sources, prices have risen considerably – up to 45 per cent in some areas.

But not having access to clean water impacts not just people’s health, but their ability to lead a normal life. Rashad, a villager Najd Al-Barad, tells us that his village had seen many instances where women had to leave the house to bring water for their family, often leaving babies unattended. Because the journey is often very long, they would come back to find that their babies had passed away. Similarly, young children are often forced to help their parents carry clean water and every day, and as a result they often miss school.

https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-wearing-school-uniform-no-longer-dream