The United States Military Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa (HOA) is a geographic region that includes the countries of Djibouti, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia , Kenya and neighboring Yemen. Each country in the region hosts many culturally unique distinctions to include groups that comprise the HOA's area of ​​operation. Specifically, one of these culturally unique groups originates in Yemen. The country of Yemen, according to a 2004 census, has reached almost 20 million inhabitants (UNDP, 2010). Over 45% of the population lives on less than $2 a day (UNDP, 2010). The poor people of Yemen have formed a cultural group that essentially contains the majority of the country's population. The purpose of this thesis is to illustrate the current Yemeni culture shaped by the effects of poverty on the people of Yemen. These effects span a wide range of problematic issues based on three main arguments. The effects of poverty on Yemen's people include serious health problems affecting most of the region, the decay of the country's political infrastructure, and the growing support of terrorist organizations in the region. The dilemmas in Yemen are not exclusively internal in origin. Yemen hosts approximately 91,587 (as of 2007) refugees from Somalia (CIA, 2011). The trail of events perpetuated by the effects of poverty on Yemen's population, left unchecked, will continue to erode with significant and lasting negative effects across the entire HOA Area of ​​Responsibility (AOR) to include local, regional, and U.S. interests. Yemen has historically been plagued by serious health problems that have affected most of the region. The inhabitants of the region are dependent on the country's resources, the decay of the country's political infrastructure, and the growing support of terrorist organizations in the region are all systematic results of the effects of poverty. In conclusion, Yemen must combat its health problem with both preventive and reactive measures. Yemen must find common ground among its various political factions and unify politically to develop a truly governing nation. Yemen must also irradiate all terrorist factions in the region to prevent future recruitment into terrorist organizations. These measures are necessary to ensure that the effects of poverty on the people of Yemen are mitigated and minimal. This can only be achieved through the continuation of external financial, medical and political assistance from neighboring countries in the region, as well as support from counter-terrorism organizations around the world..