The humanitarian situation in Yemen, Afghanistan and Western Sahara dominated the UN’s latest briefing on 2 November 2026, with the world body flagging a worsening healthcare crisis in Yemen’s Taiz, funding-driven closures of health centres in Afghanistan, and the phased shutdown of its peacekeeping mission MINURSO. The updates were delivered by the United Nation (UN)‘s aid coordination office (OCHA) and UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric, according to UN News. In Taiz, paramilitary Iran-backed Houthi forces are encircling the southwestern city, closing all roads and halting commercial supplies. In Afghanistan, remote communities face long and dangerous journeys to reach care. In Western Sahara, the UN has begun dismantling MINURSO after the Security Council did not renew its mandate.
Yemen’s crisis is widening beyond Taiz, where fighting has cut off supply routes to the city. Nearly a quarter of a million people have lost access to essential healthcare, including more than 186,000 children under the age of five and 23,000 pregnant women, OCHA reported. Twelve hospitals are at risk of closing, even as demand climbs with deteriorating living conditions. In one week, more than 1,400 cases of acute diarrhoea and suspected cholera were recorded. Nationwide, nearly 300,000 people have been displaced since the beginning of August.
Before the latest escalation this summer, 5.2 million of Yemen’s roughly 42 million people were already displaced, according to OCHA. The office has reached around 254,000 displaced people with food, hygiene supplies and emergency cash assistance. In Afghanistan, UN aid teams warn that vital health centres are being forced to scale back or close due to funding cuts. OCHA pointed to Badakhshan province in the far northeast, where access to care is especially difficult. Afghanistan remains one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises, with nearly 22 million people needing assistance.
OCHA spokesperson Olga Cherevko described a “worrying” rise in malnutrition at Kishim District Hospital in Badakhshan.
“There are needs, particularly severe and extreme needs that are on the increase in many parts of the country,” she said.
She noted the hospital lacked the resources to adequately support patients who rely on it. “Often there is simply nowhere else left to turn,” she stressed. Food is available in Afghanistan but remains too expensive for millions, the agency added.
On Western Sahara, Mr. Dujarric said the UN will repatriate some 160 military observers and close 13 facilities and team sites as MINURSO winds down. Its liquidation period began on Sunday, after Security Council members did not renew the mandate. Around 180 civilian and affiliated personnel will also leave, while UN property is disposed of or transferred, systems dismantled, records archived and local contracts closed. A smaller team reporting to the UN Department of Operational Support will oversee the “orderly and environmentally responsible” closure. The Secretary-General reiterated that MINURSO’s departure “does not abrogate” the right of the people of Western Sahara to self-determination, urging “maximum restraint”.