A top UN official has warned that five million Yemenis are living just one step away from famine and related diseases as a result of the US-led war.

The UN Under-Secretary- General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths on Monday called for stopping the famine stressing that as an overarching humanitarian priority.
 
Former UN special envoy to Yemen warned,” Today, about 5 million people are just one step away from succumbing to famine and the diseases that go with it” adding that ten million more would be right behind them.
 
Griffiths in his remarks urged for a “comprehensive response” to the famine as a symptom of the Arab country’s deeper collapse.
 
While a UN humanitarian appeal for $4 billion is only half-funded, a UNICEF report defines the situation of Yemeni children as particularly dire with one child dying every 10 minutes from preventable causes including malnutrition and vaccine-preventable diseases.
 
According to a UNICEF report nearly 21 million Yemenis are in need of humanitarian assistance to survive, half of them are children with 2.3 million of them suffering from malnutrition.