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With research staff from more than 60 countries, and offices across the globe, IFPRI provides research-based policy solutions to sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition in developing countries.

researcher spotlight

Carlo Azzarri

Carlo Azzarri is a Senior Research Fellow in the Innovation Policy and Scaling Unit. His work focuses on the relationships among poverty, nutrition, food security, agriculture, the environment, production, and migration—analyzed at both micro and macroeconomic levels, primarily using quantitative methods.

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The Earth Planet

Yemen

countries and regions

Publications

Resource thumbnail

Preprint

Effect of adding milk to a micronutrient fortified high-energy biscuit school feeding programme in Yemen: A cluster-randomised controlled trial

2025Bliznashka, Lilia; Michail, Monica George; Elsabbagh, Dalia; Gelli, Aulo; School Milk Initiative
Details

Effect of adding milk to a micronutrient fortified high-energy biscuit school feeding programme in Yemen: A cluster-randomised controlled trial

Background: Two billion children globally are estimated to live in conflict-affected areas. School feeding programmes (SFPs) are a widely implemented safety net that supports children during and after conflict. We evaluated the effectiveness of providing milk alongside a high energy biscuits (HEBs) SFP in Yemen on children’s and caregivers’ outcomes. Methods: We implemented a two-arm longitudinal cluster-randomised controlled trial from December 2023 to May 2024. 42 schools in Al Mukha district were randomly assigned (1:1) to: control, where children received HEBs (2 packets (100 grams) daily), or milk, where children received HEBs plus a 120 ml carton of ultra-high temperature milk. Children aged 6-18 years were randomly selected for enrolment. The primary outcomes were children’s dietary diversity and milk consumption. Secondary outcomes were children’s cognition, learning, attendance, nutritional status, and health. Tertiary outcomes were child and caregiver mental health, and household food security. We conducted intent-to-treat analysis using linear mixed effects models adjusting for clustering. The trial was registered with ISRCTN (ISRCTN12225603). Findings: 1,299 children were enrolled. After five months, the intervention increased milk consumption, but had no effect on dietary diversity. Children’s cognition [mean difference (MD) 1.00 (95% CI 0.40, 1.61)], literacy [1.14 (0.36, 1.92)], and numeracy [1.06 (0.46, 1.67)] scores improved. Cough symptoms declined: -0.12 (-0.2, -0.03). There was no effect on school attendance or nutritional status. The intervention reduced conduct problems in children [-0.52 (-0.97, -0.08)], severe anxiety in caregivers [-0.03 (-0.06, -0.001)], and household severe food insecurity [-0.09 (-0.17, -0.001)]. Interpretation: Adding a daily milk drink to an HEB SFP in Yemen resulted in numerous benefits for children and their families. Hybrid models to incrementally improve meal quality are feasible, acceptable, and lead to meaningful impacts. More research is needed on medium- and long-term benefits.

Year published

2025

Authors

Bliznashka, Lilia; Michail, Monica George; Elsabbagh, Dalia; Gelli, Aulo; School Milk Initiative

Citation

Bliznashka, Lilia; Michail, Monica George; Elsabbagh, Dalia; Gelli, Aulo; and the School Milk Initiative. Effect of adding milk to a micronutrient fortified high-energy biscuit school feeding programme in Yemen: A cluster-randomised controlled trial. SSRN Preprint. First available online on April 2, 2025. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5196994

Country/Region

Yemen

Keywords

Asia; Western Asia; Milk; Micronutrients; Food Fortification; School Feeding; Diet; Nutrition; Child Development

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Links

https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5196994 Source record

Project

Fragility, Conflict, and Migration

Record type

Preprint

Resource thumbnail

Dataset

Baseline data for Yemen School Milk Initiative Study

2024International Food Policy Research Institute
Details

Baseline data for Yemen School Milk Initiative Study

IFPRI, in collaboration with implementation partners HSA Group and World Food Programme, evaluated the impact of adding a milk intervention to a micronutrient fortified school feeding program. The study is a cluster randomized control trial (cRCT) that took place in 42 schools in Al Mukha district, Yemen. The evaluation includes baseline surveys with households and schools conducted before implementing the milk intervention (November-December 2023), and endline surveys conducted with the same households and schools after the interventions (April-May 2024). These datasets are with respect to the baseline surveys and contains baseline household and school data. The first part comprises household-level modules such as household roster, housing, assets, food security, and occurrence of shocking events. The second part comprises individual-level modules administered to children receiving the program, which include nutritional status, diet, health, cognition, and learning. The last part includes the school level modules such as infrastructure and food environment, administered to school staff.

Year published

2024

Authors

International Food Policy Research Institute

Citation

International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). 2024. Baseline data for Yemen School Milk Initiative Study [dataset]. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute [dataset]. Harvard Dataverse. Version 1. https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/UO3VPK.

Country/Region

Yemen

Keywords

Western Asia; Milk Production; Agriculture; Human Nutrition

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.7910/dvn/uo3vpk Source record

Project

Fragility, Conflict, and Migration

Record type

Dataset

Resource thumbnail

Journal Article

School feeding for improving child nutrition in conflict-affected settings: Feasibility and cost efficiency of alternative models in Yemen

2024Bliznashka, Lilia; Elsabbagh, Dalia; Kurdi, Sikandra; Ecker, Olivier; Gelli, Aulo
Details

School feeding for improving child nutrition in conflict-affected settings: Feasibility and cost efficiency of alternative models in Yemen

School feeding programs can support children’s nutrition, health, and education in emergencies. This study assessed the feasibility, trade-offs, cost efficiency, and perceived benefits of school feeding modalities operating in urban Yemen. It draws on primary data from a qualitative evaluation with 21 school feeding implementers and 88 beneficiaries conducted in Feb–Mar 2023, and secondary data from a desk review of published and program literature on school feeding operations. Results showed that school feeding provided students with on average 18%, 40%, and 66% of daily energy, protein, and micronutrient requirements, respectively. Models including fortified snacks were 3–11 times more cost-efficient in terms of nutrient delivery. The most prominent strength of the models examined were the perceived benefits on child, family, and financial outcomes. Among the main weaknesses was the poor nutritional quality of the meal, which in turn emerged as a primary opportunity to improve school feeding through hybrid models providing a combination of fortified snacks and healthy meals. Other weaknesses such as poor water, sanitation, and hygiene infrastructure, and desired improvements such as the school kitchen and canteen, require considerable investments. Hybrid models are cost-efficient, acceptable, and feasible in Yemen and can serve the diet and nutrition needs of school-aged children.

Year published

2024

Authors

Bliznashka, Lilia; Elsabbagh, Dalia; Kurdi, Sikandra; Ecker, Olivier; Gelli, Aulo

Citation

Bliznashka, Lilia; Elsabbagh, Dalia; Kurdi, Sikandra; Ecker, Olivier; and Gelli, Aulo. 2024. School feeding for improving child nutrition in conflict-affected settings: Feasibility and cost efficiency of alternative models in Yemen. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1540(1): 251-264. https://doi.org/10.1111/nyas.15222

Country/Region

Yemen

Keywords

Middle East; Western Asia; Capacity Development; Child Nutrition; Fortified Foods; School Feeding; Snack Foods

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.1111/nyas.15222 Source record

Project

Fragility, Conflict, and Migration

Record type

Journal Article

Datasets

Dataset

2014 Social Accounting Matrix for Yemen

2021International Food Policy Research Institute
Details

2014 Social Accounting Matrix for Yemen

This new regional SAM for Yemen includes 57 productive sectors – including 20 agricultural, 25 industrial, and 12 services activities – in four subnational regions: Highlands, Tihama, Aden, and Hadramaut. The regional SAM has 10 factors of production. Labor is differentiated by three educational levels and between the public and private sectors. Capital is disaggregated into four types: crops; livestock; mining; and other. Additionally, the new SAM has 60 representative households. Households were split according to per capita expenditure into five quintiles by rural farm, rural non-farm, and urban areas. These 15 household groups then were differentiated across the four subnational regions. The regionalization of the Yemen SAM for the year 2014 was done for sectoral production, i.e., agriculture, industry, and services; factor markets; and household groups. All of the other accounts in the SAM are at the national level. In total, the regional SAM for Yemen incorporates 379 rows x 379 columns.

Year published

2021

Authors

International Food Policy Research Institute

Citation

International Food Policy Research Institute. 2021. 2014 Social Accounting Matrix for Yemen. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/KTFIP5. Harvard Dataverse. Version 1.

Country/Region

Yemen

Keywords

Asia; Western Asia; National Accounting; Taxes; Household Expenditure; Modelling; Labour; Social Accounting Matrix; Economic Indicators; Sex-disaggregated Data; Household Consumption

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.7910/dvn/ktfip5 Source record

Project

Policies, Institutions, and Markets

Record type

Dataset

Dataset

ASTI Yemen Database

2014Agricultural Science and Technology Indicators
Details

ASTI Yemen Database

This dataset includes national-level time series data on researcher capacity by qualification level, age bracket, discipline mix, and commodity, as well as a detailed breakdown of agricultural research investment across government, higher education, nonprofit, and (where possible) private for-profit agricultural research agencies. These data were derived through a series of primary survey rounds conducted by IFPRI’s Agricultural Science and Technology Indicators (ASTI) and in close collaboration with a large network of national collaborators. The ASTI data constitute a powerful resource for national and regional research managers, policymakers, donor organizations, and other stakeholders. ASTI’s key indicators provide both a diagnostic tool for assessing the allocation and use of existing resources and an advocacy tool for increasing resources and improving the efficiency and effectiveness of resource use. The ASTI website offers interactive pages that allow users to access country-level time series data, make cross-country comparisons, create graphs, and download country datasets and publications as well as detailed institutional information on agencies involved in agricultural research. The interactive benchmarking tool on the ASTI website is a convenient map-based instrument allowing users to make cross-country comparisons and rankings based on a wide set of financial and human resource indicators. The detailed ASTI datasets are available in an easy-to-use data download tool. Detailed information on definitions, methodology, and calculation procedures are available at www.asti.cgiar.org

Year published

2014

Authors

Agricultural Science and Technology Indicators

Citation

Agricultural Science and Technology Indicators. 2014. ASTI Yemen database. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. http://www.asti.cgiar.org/yemen. Harvard Dataverse. Version 1. https://www.asti.cgiar.org/yemen

Country/Region

Yemen

Keywords

Asia; Western Asia; Agricultural Research

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-NC-3.0

Source

Source record

Project

Policies, Institutions, and Markets

Record type

Dataset

Dataset

Yemen Social Accounting Matrix, 2012

2014International Food Policy Research Institute; Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation, Government of Yemen; Kiel Institute for the World Economy
Details

Yemen Social Accounting Matrix, 2012

This data study includes Yemen Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) for the year 2012. The national SAM is built using the 2012 national accounts, government budgets, balance of payments, and 2007 input-output tables. It provides a detailed representation of Yemen economy. It separates 24 activities and commodities; 10 agricultural sectors, fisheries and forestry, 2 for mining, 4 for manufacturing, 1 for electricity,water, construction and trade and transport, and 3 service sectors. Information on labor is drawn from 2005/06 household budget survey (HBS) and dis-aggregates labor into three categories: unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled. Finally the SAM identifies government investments and foreign accounts. Therefore, this database can be a very good input for undertaking economy wide impact assessments, SAM-based multiplier analysis and computable general equilibrium (CGE) modeling.

Year published

2014

Authors

International Food Policy Research Institute; Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation, Government of Yemen; Kiel Institute for the World Economy

Citation

International Food Policy Research Institute; Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation, Government of Yemen; Kiel Institute for the World Economy. 2014. Yemen Social Accounting Matrix, 2012. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/26496. Harvard Dataverse. Version 1.

Country/Region

Yemen

Keywords

Asia; Western Asia; National Accounting; Social Accounting Matrix

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-NC-3.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.7910/dvn/26496 Source record

Project

Policies, Institutions, and Markets

Record type

Dataset

Blogs

More than a meal: How school feeding programs are shaping the future
IFPRI Blog
 | 
March 13, 2025

More than a meal: How school feeding programs are shaping the future

By Evgeniya Anisimova and Kate Morris

A recent seminar analyzed emerging evidence and future directions for school meals in the 21st century.

IFPRI-AMIS policy seminar – Ukraine One Year Later: The impact of the war on agricultural markets and food security
IFPRI Blog
 | 
March 24, 2023

IFPRI-AMIS policy seminar – Ukraine One Year Later: The impact of the war on agricultural markets and food security

By Charlotte Hebebrand

Effects continue to reverberate around the world and in individual countries.

Addressing the food crisis in Yemen: The private sector’s key role amid local conflict and global market disruptions from the Russia-Ukraine war
IFPRI Blog
 | 
November 21, 2022

Addressing the food crisis in Yemen: The private sector’s key role amid local conflict and global market disruptions from the Russia-Ukraine war

By Sikandra Kurdi, Olivier Ecker, Joseph Glauber, and David Laborde

A tenuous food security situation faces shifting pressures.

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Events

Ukraine One Year Later: the impact of the war on agricultural markets and food security
IFPRI Policy Seminar

 | 

March 8, 2023, 9:00 – 10:30 am

Ukraine One Year Later: the impact of the war on agricultural markets and food security

VIRTUAL IFPRI-AMIS Seminar Series: March 8, 2023 at 9:00am-10:30am EST. During this seminar speakers will discuss the war’s impacts on Ukraine’s producers, wheat buyers and importers in the MENA region, and households in Egypt and Yemen.

Call for Action to Address the Global Food Security Crisis
IFPRI Policy Seminar

 | 

October 5, 2022, 9:30 – 11:00 am

Call for Action to Address the Global Food Security Crisis

Virtual Event: October 5, 2022 – 09:30 AM to 11:00 AM EDT. The seminar will address questions and consider the proposals made by the Task Force on Food Security and Sustainable Agriculture of the Think20 (T20).

Retail food prices at the country level and implications for food security
IFPRI Policy Seminar

 | 

March 29, 2022, 9:30 – 11:00 am

Retail food prices at the country level and implications for food security

Virtual Event: March 29, 2022 – 9:30 AM to 11:00 AM EDT. How are rising food prices, further aggravated by the invasion of Ukraine, being transmitted at the country level? This policy seminar will examine how global commodity prices are transmitted at the national level and what other country-specific aspects influence retail prices.

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News

May 25, 2023 | In the News

HSA Group partners with Tetra Pak to support safe nutrition in Yemen’s schools (Yahoo Finance) 

“HSA Group – Yemen’s largest private company – partners with Tetra Pak to address food security and nutrition challenges facing young people in Yemen, writes Yahoo Finance in an article based on press release distributed on PR Newswire. The initiative will serve as a pilot for introducing fortified flavoured milk in school feeding programmes in Yemen, with […]

December 19, 2022 | In the News

2022 Year Ender: Children of the frontier (Ahram Online) 

The Russia-Ukraine war is not only leading to the deaths and displacement of children in Ukraine but is also pushing millions of others into poverty, writes the outlet, Ahram Online. The article uses Yemen as an example of how the war has increased food insecurity and crisis in Yemen. “The Russian invasion of Ukraine has […]

April 29, 2022 | In the News

World Insights: Mideast, N. Africa to suffer most from global food supply crisis, experts say (China.org) 

China.org published an article stating that with surging global commodity prices, a food supply crisis is looming large, especially in several MENA nations. The Russia-Ukraine conflict has a profound impact on international commodity prices given the two countries important roles in global grain markets. Senior research fellow David Laborde said, “Middle Eastern and North African […]

View all News