 The humanitarian crisis continues in Yemen amid a massive shortage of funds for relief work. On March 16, a pledging conference was held for Yemen. It was co-hosted by the United Nations, Sweden and Switzerland. The target was to raise $4.27 billion. However, the conference was only able to raise $1.3 billion. Last year's conference raised $1.67 billion or 43% of the amount needed. Saudi Arabia and UAE, two of the key countries that have caused the devastation, did not pledge any money this year. 23.4 million people of the total population of 31.9 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance. Of these, 12.9 million are in acute need. What are the origins of the war? The war in Yemen began in 2014 when the Ansar Allah, commonly known as the Houthis, seized control of regions in the north and began advancing southwards. The government of Abdrabbu Mansur Hadi, backed by the Gulf monarchies and Western powers, faced several defeats and in 2015, the Houthis captured the capital Sanaa. Hadi fled the country. This marked a key movement in the war as Saudi-led coalition entered on his side. The Saudis justified their attack claiming that the Houthis, which represent Yemen's Saidi Shia Muslim minority, were proxies of Iran. The coalition received logistical and intelligent support from the US, UK and France. Saudi Arabia imposed a blockade in 2015, due to which aid could effectively reach the population. In addition, Saudi Arabia also imposed economic sanctions on Yemen, contributing to the deepening humanitarian crisis. Over the years, it conducted thousands of raids in which civilians have suffered heavily. This sustained assault has had a catastrophic impact. According to UN estimates, around 377,000 people have died both in the war and due to hunger and disease, about 70% of the dead were children, worsening humanitarian crisis. According to the World Food Program, the number of people who need food aid rose to 17.4 million over the last year and is expected to touch 19 million people by later this year. The situation has been dire for many years now. Towards the end of 2017, Save the Children said that 50,000 children had died in the country that year. The next year, the organisation estimated that 85,000 children under the age of 5 alone may have died of hunger and disease since April 2015. In 2018, humanitarian organisations reported a 25% rise in severe hunger with nearly 8.4 million people on the verge of starvation. In 2020, UN organisations were predicting that 3.2 million people would face higher levels of acute food insecurity by the end of the year, the current state of Yemen. In March 2022, the UN Agency head said that today, more than 17.4 million Yemenis are food insecure. 1.6 million are expected to fall into emergency levels of hunger in the coming months, taking the total of those with emergency needs to 7.3 million by the end of the year. The number of people experiencing catastrophic or famine-like levels of hunger will increase fivefold from 31,000 now to 161,000 by December 31, 2022. 2.2 million children are acutely malnourished, 538,000 of whom are severely malnourished. Further troubling is that 1.3 million pregnant and lactating women are also suffering from acute malnutrition. The war in Ukraine has further contributed to the crisis, as Yemen imports roughly 30% of its wheat from Ukraine. Year after year, the UN has failed to raise enough money to address the humanitarian crisis. In December 2021, the World Food Program said that it will reduce food aid to Yemen from January 2022 due to acute shortage of funds. Meanwhile, countries like Saudi Arabia and UAE, which are the main drivers of war in Yemen, continue receiving support from the West.