Less than 30 percent of pledged Yemen aid delivered, says UN

Less than 30 percent of international aid pledged for Yemen this year has been delivered, a United Nations official said on Wednesday.

Donors in April pledged close to $1.1 billion to the war-torn country, to alleviate what the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has called the "largest humanitarian crisis in the world".

Despite the scale of the calamity, "only 25 percent of aid pledged to the UN refugee agency and 29 percent of aid pledged to the UN's humanitarian response plan have been delivered so far," UNHCR's Yemen spokesperson Shabia Mantoo told AFP.

Some 19 million people are in need of aid in Yemen, with 10.3 million requiring immediate assistance to "save or sustain their lives", according to the UN.

The imminient threat of famine as well as a recent outbreak of cholera has pressed Yemen's poverty-stricken population closer to the brink of disaster.

"Conditions are only worsening. The cholera rates are alarming, health facilities are struggling to remain functional, millions across the country are food insecure and facing prolonged displacement from their homes," Mantoo said.

The International Committee of the Red Cross reported on Wednesday that 5,000 new suspected cases of cholera have been reported every day in Yemen.

Cholera has killed over 900 people in Yemen since April 27.

According to the World Health Organization, a quarter of a million people are expected to contract cholera within six months.

Yemen's war has seen more than 10,000 people killed and millions displaced since a Saudi-led military coalition intervened to support the country's government against Houthi rebels.