5 mln Yemenis "one step away from famine" in 2021: UN

A father holds his malnourished child's feet in his hand as the child receives medical treatment in Al-Sabeen hospital in Sanaa, Yemen, Dec. 13, 2020. (Photo by Mohammed Mohammed/Xinhua)

ADEN, Yemen, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on Sunday warned that 5 million Yemenis "will likely be living just one step away from famine in the upcoming year."

The UN organization said in a brief statement posted on its official Twitter account that more than half of Yemen's overall population could head further into hunger in 2021.

An estimated 50,000 people will be living in famine-like conditions in the war-ravaged Arab country during 2021, the statement added.

Immediate support is urgently needed to save Yemen as "UN response remains only 49 percent funded," FAO noted.

Yemen has been mired in a civil war since late 2014 when the Houthi rebels seized control of several northern provinces and forced the internationally-recognized government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi out of the capital Sanaa.

The world's worst humanitarian crisis in Yemen is the result of more than five years of brutal conflict, disease, economic collapse and a breakdown of public institutions and services.