<p>This year's Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the World Food Programme for its efforts to fight global hunger — including in Yemen, where millions teeter on the brink of famine.</p>.<p>The WFP feeds millions of people across the war-torn country every month, in an atmosphere often overshadowed by tension and armed conflict.</p>.<p>Here are five things to know about the programme's operations in what is the Arabian Peninsula's most impoverished country, which has been embroiled in war since 2014.</p>.<p>Aiming to feed 13 million people each month — among them 1.1 million women and young children — the WFP's operation in Yemen is its largest emergency response in the world.</p>.<p>The country, with a population of around 29 million, is living through what the United Nations has described as the "largest humanitarian crisis in the world".</p>.<p>Both the UN and aid agencies have repeatedly raised the alarm over the disastrous consequences of the conflict.</p>.<p><strong>Also read: <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/international/nobel-peace-prize-2020-awarded-to-un-world-food-programme-899534.html" target="_blank">Nobel Peace Prize 2020 awarded to UN World Food Programme</a></strong></p>.<p>The war has claimed tens of thousands of lives since 2015, when a powerful military coalition led by Saudi Arabia joined the government's fight against Iran-backed Huthi rebels.</p>.<p>Over 20 million Yemenis are food insecure, according to the WFP.</p>.<p>The outlook for the country has grown even bleaker this year due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.</p>.<p>Every month in Yemen, the WFP distributes food directly or through vouchers.</p>.<p>Each family of six receives a monthly ration of wheat flour, pulses, vegetable oil, sugar and salt.</p>.<p>The organisation also offers cash assistance in areas where markets "are stable enough to provide for communities' basic food needs".</p>.<p>It registers beneficiaries on a biometric platform, through which people receive transfers equivalent to $12 per person per month.</p>.<p>Besides that, the WFP provides daily nutritious snacks to 9,50,000 schoolchildren.</p>.<p><strong>Also read: <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/international/nobel-peace-prize-win-proud-moment-for-wfp-spokesman-899562.html" target="_blank">Nobel Peace Prize win 'proud moment' for WFP spokesman</a></strong></p>.<p>It also provides food aid to 8,500 refugees from the Horn of Africa in Kharaz camp, in the southern Lahj governorate.</p>.<p>Lise Grande, the UN's humanitarian coordinator for Yemen, said only $1 billion of the $3.2 billion needed for Yemen had been received this year.</p>.<p>The lack of financial support is pushing programmes to suspend operations.</p>.<p>Last month, the UN said that critical aid had been cut at 300 health centres and more than a third of its major humanitarian programmes had been reduced or shut down entirely.</p>.<p>The WFP is facing "a significant funding shortfall" as it urgently needs over $500 million "to ensure uninterrupted food assistance until March 2021".</p>.<p><strong>Also read: <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/international/nobel-peace-prize-what-is-the-world-food-programme-and-what-does-it-do-899673.html" target="_blank">Nobel Peace Prize: What is the World Food Programme, and what does it do?</a></strong></p>.<p>The WFP has had a troubled relationship with the rebels, accusing the Huthis at the end of 2018 of "criminal behaviour" and of selling food aid meant for civilians.</p>.<p>The organisation halted deliveries in Huthi-controlled areas for two months last year as it pushed for a biometric registration scheme to avoid the diversion of supplies.</p>.<p>In early August 2019, it reached a deal to resume deliveries after the Huthis offered guarantees concerning the beneficiaries.</p>.<p>Humanitarian agencies have also complained of a deteriorating situation in the Huthi-controlled north, with aid workers facing arrest and intimidation, as well as obstruction and bureaucracy that hampered their work.</p>.<p>In February this year, rebels said they had dropped a threat to impose a tax on aid, in a significant step that helped resolve a crisis that had jeopardised the world's biggest humanitarian operation.</p>.<p><strong>Also read: <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/international/world-news-politics/un-food-chief-urges-jeff-bezos-other-billionaires-to-step-up-to-help-worlds-starving-889182.html" target="_blank">UN food chief urges Jeff Bezos, other billionaires to step up to help world's starving</a></strong></p>.<p>After the WFP accused the Huthi rebels of diverting aid, the insurgents claimed the programme was sending "rotten food".</p>.<p>Mohammed al-Huthi, a rebel official, said in early 2019 that the WFP was "fully responsible for... quantities of rotten food" it sent to Yemen and accused UN organisations of bias.</p>.<p>In August last year, rebels destroyed tonnes of food aid they said had expired after it was reportedly held up for months.</p>.<p>A UN source said the aid had been intended for delivery to families in Yemen's third city of Taez in November 2018.</p>.<p>But it "ended up detained at a checkpoint for months and months", the source told AFP at the time.</p>
<p>This year's Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the World Food Programme for its efforts to fight global hunger — including in Yemen, where millions teeter on the brink of famine.</p>.<p>The WFP feeds millions of people across the war-torn country every month, in an atmosphere often overshadowed by tension and armed conflict.</p>.<p>Here are five things to know about the programme's operations in what is the Arabian Peninsula's most impoverished country, which has been embroiled in war since 2014.</p>.<p>Aiming to feed 13 million people each month — among them 1.1 million women and young children — the WFP's operation in Yemen is its largest emergency response in the world.</p>.<p>The country, with a population of around 29 million, is living through what the United Nations has described as the "largest humanitarian crisis in the world".</p>.<p>Both the UN and aid agencies have repeatedly raised the alarm over the disastrous consequences of the conflict.</p>.<p><strong>Also read: <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/international/nobel-peace-prize-2020-awarded-to-un-world-food-programme-899534.html" target="_blank">Nobel Peace Prize 2020 awarded to UN World Food Programme</a></strong></p>.<p>The war has claimed tens of thousands of lives since 2015, when a powerful military coalition led by Saudi Arabia joined the government's fight against Iran-backed Huthi rebels.</p>.<p>Over 20 million Yemenis are food insecure, according to the WFP.</p>.<p>The outlook for the country has grown even bleaker this year due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.</p>.<p>Every month in Yemen, the WFP distributes food directly or through vouchers.</p>.<p>Each family of six receives a monthly ration of wheat flour, pulses, vegetable oil, sugar and salt.</p>.<p>The organisation also offers cash assistance in areas where markets "are stable enough to provide for communities' basic food needs".</p>.<p>It registers beneficiaries on a biometric platform, through which people receive transfers equivalent to $12 per person per month.</p>.<p>Besides that, the WFP provides daily nutritious snacks to 9,50,000 schoolchildren.</p>.<p><strong>Also read: <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/international/nobel-peace-prize-win-proud-moment-for-wfp-spokesman-899562.html" target="_blank">Nobel Peace Prize win 'proud moment' for WFP spokesman</a></strong></p>.<p>It also provides food aid to 8,500 refugees from the Horn of Africa in Kharaz camp, in the southern Lahj governorate.</p>.<p>Lise Grande, the UN's humanitarian coordinator for Yemen, said only $1 billion of the $3.2 billion needed for Yemen had been received this year.</p>.<p>The lack of financial support is pushing programmes to suspend operations.</p>.<p>Last month, the UN said that critical aid had been cut at 300 health centres and more than a third of its major humanitarian programmes had been reduced or shut down entirely.</p>.<p>The WFP is facing "a significant funding shortfall" as it urgently needs over $500 million "to ensure uninterrupted food assistance until March 2021".</p>.<p><strong>Also read: <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/international/nobel-peace-prize-what-is-the-world-food-programme-and-what-does-it-do-899673.html" target="_blank">Nobel Peace Prize: What is the World Food Programme, and what does it do?</a></strong></p>.<p>The WFP has had a troubled relationship with the rebels, accusing the Huthis at the end of 2018 of "criminal behaviour" and of selling food aid meant for civilians.</p>.<p>The organisation halted deliveries in Huthi-controlled areas for two months last year as it pushed for a biometric registration scheme to avoid the diversion of supplies.</p>.<p>In early August 2019, it reached a deal to resume deliveries after the Huthis offered guarantees concerning the beneficiaries.</p>.<p>Humanitarian agencies have also complained of a deteriorating situation in the Huthi-controlled north, with aid workers facing arrest and intimidation, as well as obstruction and bureaucracy that hampered their work.</p>.<p>In February this year, rebels said they had dropped a threat to impose a tax on aid, in a significant step that helped resolve a crisis that had jeopardised the world's biggest humanitarian operation.</p>.<p><strong>Also read: <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/international/world-news-politics/un-food-chief-urges-jeff-bezos-other-billionaires-to-step-up-to-help-worlds-starving-889182.html" target="_blank">UN food chief urges Jeff Bezos, other billionaires to step up to help world's starving</a></strong></p>.<p>After the WFP accused the Huthi rebels of diverting aid, the insurgents claimed the programme was sending "rotten food".</p>.<p>Mohammed al-Huthi, a rebel official, said in early 2019 that the WFP was "fully responsible for... quantities of rotten food" it sent to Yemen and accused UN organisations of bias.</p>.<p>In August last year, rebels destroyed tonnes of food aid they said had expired after it was reportedly held up for months.</p>.<p>A UN source said the aid had been intended for delivery to families in Yemen's third city of Taez in November 2018.</p>.<p>But it "ended up detained at a checkpoint for months and months", the source told AFP at the time.</p>