An estimated 85,000 children under the age of five may have died from acute malnutrition in three years of war in Yemen, a leading charity says.
The number is equivalent to the entire under-five population in the UK's second largest city of Birmingham, Save the Children adds.
The UN warned last month that up to 14m Yemenis are on the brink of famine.
It is trying to revive talks to end a three-year war which has caused the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
Yemen has been devastated by the conflict. Fighting escalated in 2015 when a Saudi-led coalition launched an air campaign against the Houthi rebel movement which had forced President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi to flee abroad.
At least 6,800 civilians have been killed and 10,700 injured in the war, according to the UN. The fighting and a partial blockade by the coalition have also left 22 million people in need of humanitarian aid, created the world's largest food security emergency, and led to a cholera outbreak that has affected 1.2 million people.
Rising food prices and the falling value of the country's currency as a result of a civil war are putting more families at risk of food insecurity.
The UK-based charity blames the blockade for putting more people at risk of famine, with continued heavy fighting around the principal lifeline port of Hudaydah further exacerbating the situation.
The rebel-held port, through which the country has traditionally imported 90% of its food, has seen commercial imports fall by more than 55,000 metric tonnes a month, the charity says. This is enough to meet the needs of 4.4m people, including 2.2m children, it adds.
Save the Children said it had been forced to bring supplies for the north of Yemen through its southern port of Aden, which has significantly slowed down aid deliveries.
, December 18, 2019