A look at the conflict in Yemen as donors pledge $1B in aid.
SANAA, Yemen – For more than two years, Yemen has been in the grip of a conflict between a Saudi-led military coalition and Shiite rebels that has driven the Arab world’s poorest country to the brink of famine.
Doctors Without Borders, known by the French acronym MSF, says it has treated 66,000 people.
Here is a look at the crisis and the pledged response.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says around 17 million people in Yemen are food insecure, "making this the world’s largest hunger crisis."
The United Nations says some 18.8 million people — more than half of Yemen’s total population of 27 million — need humanitarian or protection assistance.
Nearly 14 million lack access to drinking water.
Of the 12 million children in the country, 80 percent suffer daily from acute humanitarian needs.
Fewer than 45 percent of health facilities are now fully functioning, and the flow of "essential medicines" has fallen by nearly 70 percent, it said.
The United States, which supports the Saudi-led coalition, said it was committing nearly $94 million in additional humanitarian assistance, bringing its total to $526 million since the 2016 fiscal year.

High salinity, for example, can cause kidney stones and problems in the urinary tract.
– Safe levels far exceeded – In 2012 and again in 2015, the United Nations listed the threats that could render the enclave uninhabitable by 2020.
Israel says however that it is needed to keep Hamas from obtaining weapons or materials that could be used to produce them.
The level drops and seawater seeps in, raising salinity.
Sami Lubbad, in charge of environmental issues at the Gaza health ministry, says pollution is of two kinds, chemical and microbiological.
Chemical pollution is caused by pesticides but also, say experts, by the toxic remnants of ammunition fired during wars.
“Around two-thirds of Gazans buy their water in the private sector,” often in bottles sold for two shekels (around $0.53) per 16 liters, says June Kunugi, head of UNICEF in the Palestinian territories.
“Many children have parasites and worms and suffer from diarrhea and malnutrition,” said Kunugi.
At the edge of the Mediterranean, desalination of sea water is one potential solution.
In January, the largest desalination plant in Gaza partially opened with the help of international aid.

UN agency uses satellite data to aid farmers in Africa, Middle East boost water efficiency.
20 April 2017 – The United Nations agricultural agency created an online database that uses satellite data and Google Earth images to figure out how much water is being used to irrigate crops, focusing on parts of Africa and the Middle East that are facing water scarcity.
“Water use continues to surge at the same time that climate change – with increasing droughts and extreme weather – is altering and reducing water availability for agriculture,” said Maria Helena Semedo, Deputy Director-General of the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) Climate Change and Natural Resources.
“That puts a premium on making every drop count, underscoring the importance of meeting growing food production needs from efficiency gains.” Known as WaPOR, the open-access database measures evapotranspiration – how water evaporates and returns to the atmosphere, according to FAO.
“Evapotranspiration thus provides a direct measure of the water consumed by a crop during a growing season and, when related to the biomass and harvestable crop yield, allows for calculating the crop water productivity,” the UN agency said presenting WaPOR at a high-level meeting in Rome on “ “Coping with water scarcity in agriculture: a global framework for action in a changing climate”.
WaPOR sifts through data to produce maps that who much food is produced for every cubic meter of water consumed.
FAO, with support from the Government of the Netherlands, is currently focusing on African and the Middle East, with detailed data expected in October for pilot areas in Ethiopia, Lebanon and Mali.

U.N. tool uses satellite data to help farmers save water.
ROME, April 20 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – A new Google-powered online tool that uses satellite data to map water consumption in Africa and the Middle East aims to help farmers produce more crops with less water, the United Nations said on Thursday.
WaPOR, an open-access database developed by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) enables countries to easily monitor how efficiently farms use water, allowing for improvements in irrigation and food production, the agency said.
As agriculture is responsible for 70 percent of all water used on the planet, it will be critical to increase "crop per drop", experts say.
"Water use continues to surge at the same time that climate change – with increasing droughts and extreme weather – is altering and reducing water availability for agriculture," said FAO’s deputy director-general Maria Helena Semedo.
The tool allows users like governments or farmers to spot areas where water is used inefficiently and take action by changing the irrigation system or switching to a more water-efficient crop, FAO said.
"You can compare with your neighbour and say: ‘Look he is planting his wheat field one month ahead of me or using this kind of irrigation system or fertilizer and he is doing much better’," FAO technical officer Livia Peiser, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Two thirds of the world’s population live in areas experiencing water scarcity at least one month a year, according to the United Nations.
(Reporting by Umberto Bacchi @UmbertoBacchi, Editing by Katie Nguyen.
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Somaliland: UN Staff Donates 7000$ to National Drought Response Committee.
Several UN representatives have donated a total of 7000 dollars to the National Drought Response Committee, showing the personal commitment of the UN staff in the assistance of victims affected by the severe drought in Somaliland.
This article was published by SomalilandPress.com: Representatives of UNICEF, WFP, UNCHR, UNDP, FAO, UN-Habitat, and the Resident Coordinator’s Office today [19 April 2017] delivered a donation to the National Drought Response Committee totaling USD $ 7000.
The donation represents a personal contribution from the salaries of international and national UN staff based in Hargeisa, a lot of whom have also separately donated to the drought response.
Speaking at the handover event, Gavin Roy of the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office noted that “this contribution is a symbol of the personal commitment of UN staff in Somaliland to do our utmost to help persons affected by the drought in Somaliland, and comes above and beyond the long hours and dedicated work that all UN staff are doing to prevent famine”.
H.E.
Sheikh Khalif Abdillahi Ahmed, Minister of Religious Affairs thanked the UN for passing on the personal contribution to the Drought Committee and for the overall increased assistance that is being given to assist people affected by the drought.
He noted that this donation was in addition to the USD $1700 that staff UNDP, UNFPA, UNDSS, OCHA, and RCO recently gave to the Drought Committee.
In addition to this personal contribution, representatives of the UN agencies briefed the Drought Committee members on their work to respond to the drought, noting that the UN is working hard to both mobilise funds and scale up response, in particular in relation to the provision of clean water, nutrition, cash assistance, emergency health and shelter, protection services, and distribution of agriculture packages to farmers.

UN inaugurates water supply system in Haiti anti-cholera fight.
UNITED NATIONS, United States (CMC) — The United Nations has inaugurated a water supply system in the Lascahobas Commune as part of its anti-cholera fight in Haiti.
Residents fill containers at a water capture and distribution project point in a town an hour outside of Port au Prince.
“Elimination of cholera can be achieved in the medium term – two or three years – if emphasis is placed on immediate action,” said El-Mostafa Benlamlih, the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General and UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Haiti.
“That is to say, an emphasis [must be] put on response capacity, management and immediate treatment of water,” he added.
“But nothing can be done without an investment in water, sanitation and hygiene.” Historically, the UN said the people in the Madan Mak and Loncy areas of the Lascahobas Commune have always had serious problems with access to safe drinking water.
It said that when the cholera epidemic hit the Plateau Central, “the need for safe potable water became crucial to eliminate the transmission of the disease.” “Before the water came here, we had to do a lot of work to find drinking water.
When she could not travel the distance, Joseph was obliged to use a source of unsafe water – despite the risks of transmission of water-borne diseases, such as diarrhoea, dysentery, typhoid and cholera, the UN said.
To address the concerns of those living in Mangoule, the UN said Haiti’s Department of Artibonite proposed a new project to the UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH).
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17 April 2017 – Historically, the people in the Madan Mak and Loncy areas of the Lascahobas Commune have always had serious problems with access to safe drinking water.
When the cholera epidemic hit the Plateau Central, the need for safe potable water became crucial to eliminate the transmission of the disease.
The top United Nations humanitarian official in Haiti stressed that all efforts to ensure the provision of safe water and sanitation are crucial to eliminate cholera.
“It was an essential project for the area because the residents had no drinking water.
Certainly, without the help of MINUSTAH the project would never have happened and that is why we want to thank all those involved,” he added.
For Mr. Benlamlih, investment in the water, sanitation and hygiene sectors must continue, and donor support is vital for this effort.
We need donor support.
So we must not let go – and it is here that friends, partners and donors must continue to support and invest in this effort.” Part of this particular initiative – the project to capture the Mangoule source – aims to help the Haitian authorities to improve public infrastructure and the living conditions of its population.
As part of its new approach to tackle cholera, the UN wants to step up its support to the Haitian Government in the construction of drinking water, sanitation and health care systems, while developing a support package to provide material assistance to Haitians most directly affected by the disease.
We had no water to wash, no water to drink – and the cholera came to take away our lives.

17 April 2017 – Historically, the people in the Madan Mak and Loncy areas of the Lascahobas Commune have always had serious problems with access to safe drinking water.
When the cholera epidemic hit the Plateau Central, the need for safe potable water became crucial to eliminate the transmission of the disease.
The top United Nations humanitarian official in Haiti stressed that all efforts to ensure the provision of safe water and sanitation are crucial to eliminate cholera.
To address the concerns of those living in Mangoule, the Department of Artibonite proposed a new project to the UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH).
“It was an essential project for the area because the residents had no drinking water.
Certainly, without the help of MINUSTAH the project would never have happened and that is why we want to thank all those involved,” he added.
For Mr. Benlamlih, investment in the water, sanitation and hygiene sectors must continue, and donor support is vital for this effort.
We need donor support.
So we must not let go – and it is here that friends, partners and donors must continue to support and invest in this effort.” Part of this particular initiative – the project to capture the Mangoule source – aims to help the Haitian authorities to improve public infrastructure and the living conditions of its population.
As part of its new approach to tackle cholera, the UN wants to step up its support to the Haitian Government in the construction of drinking water, sanitation and health care systems, while developing a support package to provide material assistance to Haitians most directly affected by the disease.

This week, we have alarming evidence that at least one of those goals – Sustainable Development Goal 6, to reach everyone everywhere with access to water and sanitation – is already in peril.
The UN Water Global Analysis and Assessment of Sanitation and Drinking-Water (GLAAS) report produced by the World Health Organisation (WHO) has revealed a huge gap in financing with over 80% of developing countries reporting that they have insufficient resources to meet their national targets.
Globally, the World Bank estimates that as much as £114 billion is required annually, around three times current levels – to meet the UN Global Goals’ ambitions to reach everyone, everywhere with safely-managed water and sanitation.
Soberingly, new aid commitments from donors for water and sanitation have fallen by 21% since 2012, from US$ 10.4 billion to US$ 8.2 billion in 2015.
Closing this financial gap will require increased levels of domestic and international finance for water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), from both public and private sources.
This is all the more important given the additional challenges faced by many developing countries from growing populations, rapid urbanisation, water scarcity and climate change.
Among other findings in this regular report card on water and sanitation financing: • Sub-Saharan Africa is home to half of the world’s people living without access to clean water, yet they received only US$1.7 billion, or 20% of all water and sanitation aid, in 2015.
However, aid commitments to these three regions were only 48% of global overseas development aid for water and sanitation in 2015.
Yet we see by the GLAAS report’s findings that the majority of developing countries do not have enough money to achieve their targets on water and sanitation access and that aid commitments are actually falling.
Progress is possible: in 2000, around 18% of the world’s population, or one billion people, had no access to even a basic, improved source of water.

GENEVA — United Nations and international aid agencies warn that cholera is spreading in drought-stricken Somalia as hunger grips that nation and the threat of famine inches closer. The World Health Organization reports more than 21,000 cases of cholera, including 533 deaths, in Somalia since the beginning of the year. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies also reports that an outbreak of the deadly disease in the self-declared autonomous region of Somaliland has killed 28 people in just the last week-and-a-half, and hospitalized nearly 170 others. Jens Laerke, spokesman for the U.N.’s Office…