‘Donor fatigue’ is deadly – how the world turned its back on Yemen

Despite the humanitarian crisis reaching devastating lows, the UN and other agencies have had to shut down programmes in Yemen, including food assistance, because they don’t have enough money, writes Bel Trew

A child receives treatment at a malnourishment centre in Yemen's northern Hajjah province (AFP via Getty Images)

Fatigue kills. It is little discussed in regions where wars, disease and hunger stalk communities and homes. But across the world, fatigue is also a silent killer. After years of conflict, and the ugly procession of associated woes that follow, it is hard to keep states, citizens and, crucially, donors interested in the worst humanitarian crises.

As a journalist, it is a challenge to find new ways to tell the stories of the most vulnerable, especially during a global pandemic when readers are facing so many of their own personal problems.

In that paralysing malaise, interest wanes, donations drop and aid dwindles to a trickle right at one of the most challenging times for the planet. The United Nations has repeatedly warned that the devastating impact of the pandemic and the global recession could translate into almost record levels of abject poverty, and famines of “biblical proportions” for swathes of the world in 2021.