UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for massive aid investment to avert famine in Yemen, saying that some 12 million people – half the population – are facing starvation, and a child dies in the country every 10 minutes from hunger and disease. A UN appeal to raise over two billion US dollars for humanitarian aid in Yemen has been only 15 percent covered. 

The UN Food Agency said they need to scale up rations deliveries to nine million people deemed "severely food insecure." Conflict between Houthi rebels and the Saudi-led coalition since 2015 has seen more than 10,000 people killed. The conflict and a blockade imposed by the coalition have also triggered a humanitarian disaster, leaving 70 percent of the population in need of aid. Before the war erupted, Yemen was already one of the poorest countries in the world.

Nearly 19 million people need emergency aid, Guterres said, renewing a call for peace talks and urging all parties to "facilitate the rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian aid by air, sea and land."