17. Yemen’s Humanitarian Crisis with Yemen Aid’s CEO Summer Nasser

Some of you may have read in the news or on social media about the humanitarian crisis in Yemen, a country located on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. The civil/proxy war that’s been occurring for years in Yemen has prevented shipments of food and other basic resources from being accessible and affordable to Yemeni citizens. This has contributed to Yemen’s humanitarian crisis, which, according to UNICEF, is the largest in the world, with more than 24 million people, which is around 80% of the population, in need of humanitarian assistance, including more than 12 million children. Over 2 million Yemeni children are malnourished and a Yemeni child dies a preventable death every 10 minutes. And now, the coronavirus outbreak has really compounded the entire situation—health services, already strained, are even more so, millions of children are now unable to access education, and tens of thousands more children could develop life-threatening acute malnutrition over the next few months.

Summer Nasser, the CEO of the humanitarian INGO Yemen Aid and a speaker and analyst on Yemeni affairs, joins me on the podcast to spread awareness about Yemen’s situation. Summer talks about her background as a Yemeni American, the factors that have contributed to the humanitarian crisis, the work that Yemen Aid does, how COVID-19 has impacted Yemen, the flaws of the international community and organizations like the UN, and what everyday people can do to support Yemenis who are going through and have been impacted by the humanitarian crisis.

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Visit Yemen Aid’s website (to donate/partner/volunteer and for more info): https://www.yemenaid.org

Resources on Yemen's history and civil war, Yemen's humanitarian crisis, and ways to help/places to donate: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MmVtWLuiJX-BklaA2QL1RabNn2INO5qVgNyAa96xaOA/edit?usp=sharing

Find your state’s voter registration deadlines for various upcoming elections here: https://www.usvotefoundation.org/vote/PrimaryElections.htm

Ways that you can support the Black Lives Matter movement & resources/articles on Black and Asian solidarity: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1P6mr1TFS-27MUAlYMg94XUMXxS0TnCWFTw85R0BX7v8/edit?usp=sharing